The Common Thread

Teaching.

Educating. Coaching. Guiding. Instructing.

Teaching is the thing that lights my soul on fire.

It is the part of my job that I look forward to the most and get lost in the hardest.

It is the part of my week that gives me enough energy to catapult me into the next few days with an insatiable thirst for more.

Searching for My Thing

There was a time in my adult life when I didn’t know what I truly wanted to do with my life.

Sounds kind of silly. I have a clinical doctorate in physical therapy. Isn’t that what I want to do?

Kind of.

Human movement is the world that I excel in and will likely live in for my entire career.

Overcoming pain, fear, and limitation is the lens through which I view that world.

But for a while, I didn’t feel satisfied with the way I was navigating through it.

Jumping from One Thing to the Next

Traditional orthopedic rehab.
Acute rehab.
Home health care.
Group fitness.
Personal training.

Each one was a small island I would dock at, thinking this is it.

Until it wasn’t.

Boredom and frustration would leave me searching for the next island to sail to.

Fueled by the burning desire to find my thing. A little buried treasure filled with excitement and satisfaction.

The Realization: Stop Sailing and Start Diving

What I didn’t realize was that I needed to stop sailing and start diving.

There was buried treasure on every single island, but at the time, I didn’t know where to look or what I was looking for.

An unknown force drew me in with intrigue but kept me busy with dissatisfaction.

The wealth of fulfillment that I could almost grab onto until it sank back down to the shadowed depths of my ocean.

I had the treasure the entire time.

It was saturated into the soil of every island, every version of work I had pursued and passed on since the day I started searching.

Finding the Common Thread

It wasn’t until I learned how to dive deeper into the ocean of thoughts, feelings, emotions, and experiences that made me who I am that I found it.

Teaching. The common thread.

That one comfortable little cafe that somehow existed on every island, as if it were copied and pasted.

With the all too familiar music in the background that became my favorite genre even though I couldn’t quite tell you what it was.

And that punchy latte that both calmed my cravings and filled me with infinite energy.

No More Searching. Just Creating.

In recent years, I have become a master at finding that treasure because I no longer have to sail or dive in search of it.

I get to create it.

I have shaped my business into a vessel that guides my clients on their own unique journeys in search of their hidden treasures. The freedom to move, play, and live without limitation or fear.

I have crossed paths with colleagues- and friends-turned-mentors who have created a space for me to learn, grow, and dive deep enough to find that buried treasure.

I have had the incredible fortune of becoming an instructor for an elite fitness and health education organization, which has allowed me to find that treasure multiple times a month by teaching other fitness and rehab professionals how to excel at their craft.

Teaching Isn’t Just What I Do. It’s Who I Am.

I love many aspects of my professional landscape, but I was born to teach.

Teaching is no longer the missing piece.

Teaching isn’t just something I do.

It is who I am.