Who is this chick??!!
I am much more familiar with being this woman......
Gina Renee... acupuncturist, busy practitioner, radio host, cable television personality, author, lecturer and aerobic instructor extraordinaire.....
A little over a year ago, you would have visited a webpage that looked completely different from the one you are seeing now. I was a busy practitioner with my own weekly local radio program, Health Talk with Gina Renee, teaching seriously fun and kick-ass aerobic/dance classes four nights a week and hosting a local cable television program, Your Health, the first Monday of every month. My website offered acupuncture and nutrition education, recipes, radio archives, newsletters based on eating with the seasons, and filled with wellness prescriptions.
My life was happy and full. And life became fuller and fuller the more successful my practice became. I loved it. My head and my heart were constantly filled with the needs of patients and my business, choreographing and teaching my dance/aerobic classes, caring for my devoted and elderly furry companion, endless domestic duties and living up to the title of Best Wife in the World. I was so used to being able to handle EVERYTHING.....but slowly the stresses of life became too much. Suddenly I was too full. Trying to do it all at any cost, because phsssssss....I could handle it! As long as I drank my green smoothies, ate my kale salads and kept exercising like Beyonce on steroids, I was sure I could handle it! I took handfulls of supplements, drank 96 oz of filtered water daily (schlepped home from the water purification store in 3 gallon glass bottles) skipped the coffee, dairy, flour and sugar, shopped for all of my fruits and veggies from the local farmer's market about two blocks from my house, made all of my meals organic from scratch and didn't eat meat. But it wasn't enough. Stress, busy-ness and little to no nurturing self care is a killer, girl. Gah....I knew better... didn't I teach this stuff? On top of it all, I was surely feeding off of the BIG energy of my husband -- who was also WAY too full, too stressed, too burdened. Monterey is one of the most beautiful and expensive counties in California, so every day was a hustle. My health slowly began to suffer, my body giving me messages that I tried to heal in every way but slowing down.... instead I kept going, determined not to let down anyone who relied on me. Eventually, I needed surgery. But, it was only when the pain in my husband's chest became too much to ignore that we decided to hold hands and jump off the cliff into a new and simpler way of life. We closed our businesses, sold our home, loaded up and moved to Northern California to be out of the city and closer to nature.
And here I am.
Instead of acupuncture needles, sweet smelling essential oils, healing crystals and soft music, my current daily tools are pitchforks, sloggers, snow boots and ball caps. Today, instead of patients and groups of people smiling and dancing to my direction, I take care of 11 laying chickens, 2 very vocal ducks, 3 cats, my sweet little dog, Millie, and one very fiery and boisterous husband.
What the *cluck* happened to me?!?
It's an unfolding journey, and I am laying it all out here for you.
Some days I miss my old life so much it is hard to breathe.
Others, I am incredibly grateful for the new life I am foraging and creating, the wisdom I am gaining, the healing that is slowly occurring -- and I can't imagine going back.
All I know for sure is that I am finding myself, maybe for the first time. I am learning a new compassion for who I am, a greater understanding of my inner blueprint and an appreciation for my own unique beauty. I am learning to love myself again (or for the first time), and I want to share my experience with you. As I am learning to embrace my life and my unique beauty, I want to show you your beauty and your uniqueness, too.
I believe that when we are comfortable in our own skin - when we can stand in our power and really own our beauty - the world opens up to us in a whole new way. We are empowered, we live on purpose, we don't hide ourselves, and we experience life and love and joy in a way we never could before. Maybe this is my *clucking* lesson here ....and I get to share it with you.
All I know for sure is this: right now, we are exactly who and where we need to be.