I wake up ENJOYING EVERYDAY. Seriously!! I find myself up past mid-night with a flutter in my heart ( quite literally). I am psyched to live my passion.
I do this daily as a physical therapist and personal trainer. I have clients/patients who invite me into their homes and create a healing relationship with them. I LOVE what I do. I have LIVED health and exercise since I was an egg in my mother's ovaries. As long as I can remember my mother couldn't keep me down. I always wanted to be playing and running with the (what felt like) 50 some-odd kids on my block, riding my bike, moving constantly. Now, I think, they call it attention deficit disorder, but I would rather think of it as the beginning to my passion.
I knew I wanted to be a physical therapist since I was 13 years old. After a head on collision, my cousin suffered a severe brain injury which left her in a coma state. Weeks later I visited her. She was trying to talk, sit, move became more functional then the prior visit. I DEFINITELY wanted to do that. So, the next 9 years I worked on it. I graduated from Shepaug Valley High, valedictorian, and finished the physical therapy program Magna Cum Laude at Northeastern University, became licensed in the state of Connecticut, and got a job immediately following graduation in an outpatient orthopedic/sports medicine facility. On my way!!!
I have been a physical therapist for the past 11 years. Early on, (I think they call it post grad rut) I felt that the handcuffs of the health insurance industry kept me from spending the quality time I wanted to treat my patients. I enjoyed healing others and bringing them through therapy to be the MOST they can be!! I wanted to encourage a more independant patient who could help themselves recover, maximize and prevent. So, I recieved my personal training certification from the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). This is where my like for rehab and health turned into my passion.
In 2001, I opened an office in the center of my quaint little town of Washington Depot, CT. LOVED it. The ironic part was it was above a pizza restaurant. In a small town you really can’t be picky. I started treating patients and drawing clients by word of mouth. The next year was a wonderful fairytail dream. I got married and created a small world of health and fitness in our small town. The year flew by.
Change is certain and in 2003, about a year later, I found out I was having my first precious baby girl. WOW. I wanted to be home to take care of my baby girl. And did. I left my stinky little place in Washington Depot, CT, (pizza smell during pregnancy and fitness training…not good) had my baby and waited 3 months before jumping back into action, treating patients and training clients. My health and fit being, however, was my greatest challege.
Before pregnancy I had body “A". During preganancy I had body “B”. After pregnancy was no longer body “A”. I was now at body “C”. Not worse, nor better, just NOT the same body. Also, six weeks after giving birth I had a rush to the ER due to severe bleeding...more on that on a later blog. BC, (before child), I used to do push ups, pshaw, no prob. Now, I was on my hands and knees barely able to duplicate what may have sort-of-been a push up. WEIRD for me. However, it made me feel for the first time, a beginner to exercise. WOW! CONCEPT! I now had true empathy for those starting off. There was no running up the killer hills of New England…it was a walk/run…pushing a large stroller (not a jogger because I had to wait 6 months according to the literature then). My body was different. Life was different.
I saw an infomercial for Turbojam, and fell in love. A workout I can have fun doing with KICKIN’ music. Chalene Johnson, creator of Turbojam, got it goin’ on!!! I couldn’t always go out running and biking like I was addicted to in the past. I had to push play….and pause…and play again. I stuck to it and did my own strength training and I got to what now was body "E".
I did get back to working. I chose at home childcare which was my mother and others (mother-in-law and Maria on various occasions), to come to my home. Then, I set out to kick my passion into high gear. I loved having the ability to do what I loved, health and fitness, AND raising this amazing child. I even incorporated some of my new Turbo moves into some new moves for my clients!
It took a few years to get it to work but with the support of my family and friends I was back on my way to becoming a great traveling physical therapist and personal trainer. I met many amazing clients and patients, rehabed patients with a variety of ailments, and created many individual, progressive and fun programs for my clients/patients. I even became Turbokick certified (Turbokick is Chalene Johnson’s instructor version of Turbo Jam.) I felt I was living it!
Then came #2, the little boy, 2006. My boy. Let’s face it. I LOVE my kids and thank God for them every single day. They are my pride and joy… I ALSO wanted to reach out to patients and client and for the LOVE OF GOD get back my healthy and fit pre-baby #2 body back quick and I had even less time for myself to accomplish this goal. I believe practice what you preach, so I needed to put in place the process that was going to help me meet my goals.
I headed once again to my turbo jam video tapes (DAY 2 home from the hospital…Modified of course) I just love to move and TURBO gave me that ME time! At this point, I even went to P90X to get the results faster. I could push play whenever I had a minute, pause and return whenever I could! It worked! I was back in action within a couple of months and ready to get back in the field. I always felt I wanted to be home with my kids, but I had a passion to rehab and create healthy members of our community, as well as, contribute financially to our family.
So, back out I went torn in two, not quite settled either way. I prayed for guidance and went out to figure out how to balance my passions: family, physical therapy and fitness. In my run of life my passion became specific. I wanted to end obesity in this Nation. I had a handful of people in my community and now wanted thousands, millions to become healthy. Let's face it, the way healthcare, insurance, and job security is going, WE, THE PEOPLE, need to become the doers and not just the by-standers. So my new question was HOW was I going to balance family, physical therapy and fitness for eventually thousands?
Fast forward to fall of 2009. A stay at home mom and friend of mine, Hillary Kelly, who I gave a BEACHBODY exercise program, Turbo Jam, to after her 2nd baby approached me with an interesting idea. I had watch her use the program and lose 40 lbs of pregnancy weight and she had just become a BEACHBODY COACH. What the heck is this...another scam to drain what I have worked so hard for? At this point, the concept was just beginning in the world of Beachbody. How did I not hear about COACHING since I was already all about these Beachbody products for the past 6 years???
I knew that the products worked. Come on, if you haven't seen the weekend/early morning commercials for Turbo jam, Turbofire, P90x, Insanity, I'm here to tell you, first hand, the products are a win-win situation. Anyway, I liked the philosophy of Beachbody: they sell, guarentee and provide accountability to their consumers. Not alot of companies out there do this. So, she had my ear. I didn't want anything coming between the time I felt I already didn't have for my family. So I put in on the back burner.
I did continue to introduce Beachbody products, such as Shakeology to my family, friends, patients and clients (sometimes they are all in the same!). I DO believe in the products so why wouldn't I become a coach and help others. MANY others! Then, I realized I could get a 25% discount on products plus a percentage of the products sold by being a coach! I could GET a paycheck FOR WHAT I WAS DOING ANYWAY, sharing with others health and fitness, programs that will help reach their goals AND be home with my kids more! coaching gives them hope and a healthy future. AND I can capitalize on BEACHBODY spending millions of dollars to ADVERTISE! How perfect is that??
So I signed myself up as a coach through Hillary, on the beachbody website for a nominal fee, became a member of Platinum Presenters, my supporting coach team for free and I am now getting my passion out to thousands as well as 25 appointments per week. I can spend MORE quality time with my children and dedicate a few hours a week to my private clients as well as many others after the kids go to sleep by being a Beachbody coach.
Not to make it sound simple, there is sweat equity involved but when it is your PASSION, I mean truly what you LOVE to do, it TRULY isn’t work. IS FAMILY WORK? Sure they are, and mostly when you are passionate about them and remember family comes first then it truly isn’t work. I have been a coach for the past year but have truly focused the last 2 months. I have reached over 100 people on a weekly basis and have extra income to contribute to our family. I am living my passion, getting OUR world healthier and making money doing this. I do this because I love it. We live in a time where social media, like facebook, twitter and blogs allow us to reach hundreds and thousands (one day millions). If you would like to learn more about getting fit, healthy and enjoying EVERYDAY as I do email me at: mdrandrews@hotmail.com or visit me at www.facebook.com/debandrewspt. Thank you for visiting me at http://debandrews.blogspot.com.
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