Well hello there! I’m fresh out of Caribana weekend in Toronto (aka Toronto Carnival) and home recovering from the amazing weekend. I took out Oprah Winfrey’s new book, The Path Made Clear, from the library and came across a passage about 25 things you might not know about me. I thought it would be a cool way to introduce myself a little further in this blog. So, here goes. Here are 25 things about me in no specific order:
I have a weird love for Caribbean culture, considering I grew up in Northern Ontario. I love soca music, dancing, eating the food, and now can add playing mas (participating in the parade) to the list.
I know how to make perogies from scratch. I made my grandma on my mom’s side teach me and for the longest time I was the only one who could do it in the family after she passed away.
I grew up camping, fishing and hunting with my dad, grandpa and brother. I always felt bad about hunting though.
I always had dogs in my life, and grew up to be a serious dog lover. My little princess Maple is an Eskimo Poodle cross and just celebrated her 11th birthday!
I work as an occupational therapist and have been struggling with job satisfaction for a long time. I’m considering a career-switch but am being extremely mindful and selective about what it is I do.
I have a black belt in taekwondo. I used to compete a lot and also self-taught how to use sais, kamas and a bo-staff.
I grew up always feeling as if I didn’t belong. Even now I have instances of feeling “different” and not quite fitting in. The difference is that before I saw that as a flaw and now I see it as a special character trait.
I’m a terrible liar. I’ve always been unfortunately honest. Still learning how to be more graceful about it.
I absolutely LOVE waking up early but hate getting out of bed. So it’s a real struggle to make it happen.
My coaching business isn’t doing so great right now. I’ve never been so good at selling. I don’t have a niche or a real direction. But do you know what, I’m okay with it, and I have total faith that it will all work out.
Boredom is a trigger emotion for me. I’ve discovered that it leads to emotionally eating and mindlessly scrolling. I’ve also discovered it relates to my childhood where I had to learn to be independent from a pretty young age.
I work with a psychotherapist regularly and I’m not afraid to tell people about it.
Working out, exercising, dance aerobics, and general physical activity like biking, snowshoeing and skiing really make me feel alive.
Traveling is a huge passion of mine. I haven’t gone anywhere exciting in a couple years and that makes me sad.
My husband and I met in a bar. We’ve been together for almost 10 years and just celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary. He’s swell.
One of my life goals was to learn to speak French fluently. I did that when I lived in northern New Brunswick for about 6 months. Then I moved to London, Ontario and have barely spoken French since. I’ve lost a lot of the language.
I learned how to understand Spanish because my mother-in-law speaks to me in Spanish. I didn’t know any Spanish before I met my in-laws but now I can understand it fairly well. I can speak basic Spanish but since my head injury in 2018, I feel like I’ve lost my ability to spontaneously say anything in the language.
I got rear-ended when I was about 17 or so and have experienced some degree of driving anxiety ever since, especially as a passenger. It’s much improved since I started teaching an anxiety management group though.
I love minimalism but I’m stuck in my minimalism journey. I feel like I have way too much stuff but don’t have the drive to continue with downsizing.
My grandfather on my dad’s side loved to dance. He used to go out in his tap shoes and bring along his castonettes to any party he went to. I think I inherited my rhythm from him.
I’m an extroverted introvert. I can turn it on around people and be funny and charismatic (like my dad), but need my alone time to re-charge and ground.
My mom taught me how to have good boundaries. I have no troubles saying no and making time for myself.
I struggle with fatigue, pain and digestive issues, and have as long as I can remember. It can be a real bummer. I try not to talk about it a lot but at times I feel like a serious hypochondriac.
I know how important meditation is for me and my brain, yet I have troubles getting to it regularly.
I’m taking Socacize Instructor training and will be rolling out the program in London in September and I’m SO excited about it. Stay tuned if you’re in the London area for dates, times and locations! If you’re not familiar with Socacize, it’s a Caribbean dance aerobics class and the most feel-good fitness program I’ve ever done! I’ll link to a promo video if you’re interested.
Well, that’s all for now folks! If there was a number 26 it would say: I’m a life and wellness coach and I’m also a real human. I help people because I experience life the same way others do. So if you’re interested in socacize or if you’d like some coaching to help with your own journey to wellness, contact me to see how we can work together, because together, we rise.
And so it is.