WHY I DO WHAT I DO

I am very passionate about both coaching others to be happy, healthy, and successful while living the life of their dreams, and setting the example for others that living a happy and healthy life you love, can be done.

Now I will tell you how this passion grew in me.

My life has been circumscribed by losses and gains. Ironically, the losses have contributed the most to my character and my philosophy of life — don’t quit on your dreams!

The first big loss was my vision. When I was 2 years old I was vitamin B deficient from a lack of quality food. A doctor miss diagnosed this and gave me medication that damaged my optic nerve. I lost 85% of my vision. I can see people walking up to me when they are 8 to 10 feet away, but I don’t know who they are until they say hello or announce who they are. So if you see me out and about, come and say hello and introduce yourself, because I will never see you wave at me.

I have been teased, tortured, and made fun of my entire life because I am different, and few can understand what my life is like living blind in a very visual world. Vision is one of the dominate ways people learn how to do things.

The results of my vision loss is I understand that we all have challenges, we are all humans, we all have feelings, we all just want to be happy, and we are all a little different from each other.

So I never judge people for who they are and what they do. If someone comes to me wanting to find happiness, together we define what happiness is for them and I coach them through the process of achieving happiness.

The next big loss was body weight loss. At 14 I was 60 pounds overweight. My parents divorced when I was 6 and with the combo of stress, processed food, fast food, dropped off a baby sitters, and left at home alone food was one of my few friends. It made me feel better and it didn’t laugh at me.

What I learned from this is I love to be physically active, and being overweight puts a lot of limitations on what and how much you can do.

Most of my family was overweight and not very healthy. I saw the way they were aging and I didn’t like it. So with some support from a family friend Jack and my two older brothers Ken and Steve, I made lifestyle changes. I started eating more real food, and exercising regularly.

By the time I was 18 I was competing in track and field, and I knew I wanted to continue my education in the health and fitness industry.

When I started college I was crushed. My councilors and advisors laughed at my health and fitness dreams. They told me blind people cannot do such things. I sadly listened. They were supposed to have more knowledge and experience than me. I was taught to listen to those older than me.

So I studied business, and stayed in school to continue competing in track and field.

In track and field I managed to go to the Paralympics in Barcelona Spain, the track and field world championships in Germany, and even spent some time at the Olympic Training Center, but I always felt something was missing. What the coaches were telling me to do wasn’t bringing me the results I wanted. There never seem to be a plan, and even when I asked they never told me why I should do the things we were doing. Once again I listened because they were supposed to have the knowledge and experience.

Following this nutritional and training advice led me down the path to arthritis at age 26. I have since learned the progression of training I should have been exposed to, and not to take short cuts. I have also learned the importance of nutrition and some foods can be helpful and others can do harm and this can be different in each individual. Both of these things contributed greatly to my arthritis.

While I was competing in Track and Field I also became involved in the coffee business. I was doing fine making money paying the bills, but once again something was missing. I was just showing up every day because that is what I was supposed to do. In the back of my head was always the dream of being in the health and fitness industry. I was also getting tired of watching my customers declining health every day. I felt bad I was profiting from others in this way.

The next big loss that changed me was my best friend Joe. Joe died of a heart attack at 31. He was overweight, didn’t eat well, didn’t exercise, smoked and wasn’t very happy in life. The only time I saw him happy is when we spent time together. I had already seen my dad pass in his 50’s, and other family members way to young in my opinion. My mother’s health was bad also, and she didn’t seem very happy in life most of the time.

I decided then that I needed to live a long happy healthy life I loved. I started studying natural and holistic health. I worked with some of the top holistic practitioners in the country. I started looking for a wife to share and experience life with. The practitioners I worked with believed in me and told me I could have all my dreams.

So I have learned natural and authentic nutrition, the proper natural ways to condition the body, many other important lifestyle factors, and how to be happy in my life.

I have a wonderful wife that encouraged me to follow my dreams in the health and fitness industry.

Now at 52 I have been arthritis free for 20 years, still compete in track at the masters level, have been playing Beep Baseball for the blind and visually impaired for 24 years, coach many clients to live a happy healthy life, coach athletes in many sports, play with my son as much as I can, live my happy healthy life, and stay passionate about wanting to help as many as I can reach their dreams naturally.