Adulting as Best I Could

I never expected to become a professional genealogist. It just kind of happened; and I have been grateful ever since. In my mid-20s, I was married, but found myself again struggling with confidence and the increasing tension of a bottled-up “self.” I needed something new to escape to. That’s when I discovered health and fitness, and I dove in! For some reason, I thought if I could look like a Men’s Health fitness model that it would somehow give me the confidence to overshadow the stress and mounting pressure from a buried and suffocating inner-self.

I became obsessed with weight lifting, chronic cardio, supplements, calorie counting, you name it! Ideal body composition and physique were my focus. I wanted to look awesome! And I did for a time... This went on for a few years with consistent maintenance of a body fat percentage in the single digits. Then, my work and personal life became more stressful. I had intermittent periods of heavy exercise, followed by crashes, weight gain, etc. I didn't sleep well; I lived with heavy amounts of stress, and what mental and emotional health I did have began to fracture. Finally, at age 36, I experienced a complete mental breakdown and nearly committed suicide. Years of mounting stress and tension about my repressed sexuality were the primary cause, but poor lifestyle habits were also a factor.

Then, on top of that, I experienced a faith crisis and found the spiritual framework I had built my life around no longer met my emotional needs, nor resonated with newly emerging "self." After a tremendous battle of inner turmoil, I determined a divorce was necessary and found myself starting life over again as a fresh, new person. That was scary!

Ancestral Healing and a New Spiritual Framework

As part of my journey, I found myself deeply curious about the earth and universe in a new way. I felt driven to deepen spiritual practices, but it was difficult to uncouple religiosity from spirituality. The two had been deeply enmeshed my entire life. However, I was slowly led to various teachings, concepts, practitioners, etc. that helped me find new, powerful ways to bring my spiritual self to life in new ways.

Around the same time I completed health coach certification, I was listening to a wellness podcast one day and the guest, Dr. Daniel Foor, author of the book Ancestral Medicine, was speaking about the concept of Ancestral Lineage Healing. This lit up my soul stronger than anything I had experienced in my spiritual journey to that point!

I signed up for a class on the topic with Daniel and began working through the steps. Powerful shifts began to happen. I found so much joy learning the principles of Ancestral Healing, and seeing the deep intersection with animistic, earth-honoring practices. All of these teaching deeply resonated with my being and I found my spiritual self coming to life in ways I had never before experienced!

After going through the course several times, and taking other similar courses, I felt moved to apply to train with Dr. Foor as a practitioner in Ancestral Lineage Healing for a nine-month program. I was grateful and delighted to be accepted!

Re-attuning to my ancestors, healing deep lineage traumas, and taping into the wisdom stored deep within my body, has brought more clarity to the ways I have felt called to integrate genealogy, Ancestral Lineage Healing, and ancestral health into a practice that I believe can help others unlock deep healing and wellness within themselves!