Hooley asked, I answered
1. Do you have a personal mantra that keeps you going?
No. Ha! I wish I did. I guess I always come back to one thought: "Just breath, look inside yourself, and the answer will be there." or a variation, "Don't over-think it, let it happen."
2. What events lead up to your decision to become a chiropractor?
a. Mom gets sick.
b. I see how the allopaths treat her. Especially nutritionally. Start thinking a little about my future.
c. Mom dies and I forget about loftier goals and go into full time work again as an account coordinator for an ad agency.
d. I get sick of/unhappy at that agency and realize that I'm not doing what I want to do. But I don't know what I want to do.
e. I start reading about careers in alternative medicine: Chiropractic, Osteopathy, Mid-Wifery, etc.
f. I make a list of things I was good at in high school. I realize that list includes giving back massages during track meets and anatomy and physiology class.
g. I sort of decide on chiropractic but I get really nervous about weather or not I can do it. I have a bad wrist and I'm a petite thing.
h. D goes to the chiropractor for the first time. Meets Bethany Dunn who is a petite thing, says, "Can you talk to my girlfriend?"
i. I make an appointment so I can get adjusted and see if I like it, and so I can meet Bethany.
j. It was amazing to be adjusted and she fixed my wrist problem that no one else could fix.
k. I intern at her office, meet her husband, and learn about the business a little.
l. I finish my pre-requisite courses (I was missing a bunch of sciences), visit colleges, pick one, and pack up.
I left out a few parts where I completely freak out because: I'm going to be a minimum of 5 years older than my classmates and will I be able to keep up? am I smart enough? i'm having a hard time going up the stairs without being out of breath, am i fit enough? will i be able to handle dissecting a cadaver? will my grandmother die while i'm gone? and lots of other crazy thoughts that lead to me dropping about 40 lbs.
3. How do you keep the legacy of your mom alive, and is there anything else you would like to do to add to that?
I talk about her as if the whole room wants to meet this celebrity that I know. Get me started and I'll talk about her till I realize that no one else has said anything in a while.
I look for the little signs that are out there that she's still in my life. The job I have now, I took over an office for a woman who left to have a baby. That baby was born on my mom's birthday.
I remember the traits that she had that I loved about her and try to emulate that (I definitely don't have her patience). And when I do something that she used to do I give her credit. Like, if I get sappy around Valentines day and need to write a love note to my family, I do and remind them that mom used to. I picked up rocks for her in Europe and I touch the water for her whenever I go to the ocean.
I would like to create a photo journal. I know I have pictures of her. But I don't have photo albums of anyone, so all my photos are in a tupperwear bin. I should just pay someone to scrapbook for me because I don't enjoy doing it. And I would like to spend more time with my sisters because that is something she loved to do. Coincidentally I love it too.
4. Has anyone ever told you that you look like someone famous, and if so, who?
Once someone told me I look like michelle pfeiffer, as in, "You look like that cat-woman woman." It was obviously a very long time ago. I used to get Annie Lennox a lot when my head was shaved. But I think that was just the hairstyle. And I get told I look like some chick named Donna? I don't know what that's about.
5. And, because you liked my number 5 answer, what personal traits to you have that make you a strong woman?
I guess I never thought about being a strong woman. I know I have a strong personality, but that's not always a good thing. So here are some traits that I think a strong woman should have, some of them I have and some of them I aspire to have...
I often feel very small and powerless. So maybe humility is one of them. I think it's important that people know that it's ok to have feelings, even the not so nice ones. That chances are someone else has shared a similar experience or feeling so no one has to be alone or ashamed of those feelings.
Empathy is important because if you're "strong" without empathy, you just become someone who doesn't care about anything but your own feelings and opinions. (I'm sure some people think I am that, because I am often in my own world and haven't picked up on your feelings. Or sometimes I'm pigheaded and just think you're wrong. Ha! What a jerk.)
Having an opinion makes you strong...thinking for yourself and not just parroting back what the television, or your boyfriend, or husband or parents, or strong-willed girlfriends tell you to think. If you think you care about an issue, look into it, even a little, before you make a decision or especially a stand.
Flexibility - even if you had an opinion once for a very good reason, sometimes things change and you can change your mind without being "flaky" or "wishy-washy." As long as you're willing to admit what that change is, at least to yourself.
Acceptance of who and what you are, the willingness to change if there's something of which you're not proud. The ability to feel proud of yourself and your accomplishments.
Seeing the good in the world despite the fact that it's not always apparent.
The ability to express emotion. I used to really hate crying in front of people, but now I accept it as a part of who I am. I laugh at myself while I'm crying. And how the hell are people going to know how to talk to me if I don't express how I'm feeling? When I was a kid, having crushes on boys who didn't crush on me, I asked my brother "What do boys like in a girl?" And he said, "A girl who tells them how they feel, we're not mindreaders." The truth is, it's not just boys who can't read minds.
No. Ha! I wish I did. I guess I always come back to one thought: "Just breath, look inside yourself, and the answer will be there." or a variation, "Don't over-think it, let it happen."
2. What events lead up to your decision to become a chiropractor?
a. Mom gets sick.
b. I see how the allopaths treat her. Especially nutritionally. Start thinking a little about my future.
c. Mom dies and I forget about loftier goals and go into full time work again as an account coordinator for an ad agency.
d. I get sick of/unhappy at that agency and realize that I'm not doing what I want to do. But I don't know what I want to do.
e. I start reading about careers in alternative medicine: Chiropractic, Osteopathy, Mid-Wifery, etc.
f. I make a list of things I was good at in high school. I realize that list includes giving back massages during track meets and anatomy and physiology class.
g. I sort of decide on chiropractic but I get really nervous about weather or not I can do it. I have a bad wrist and I'm a petite thing.
h. D goes to the chiropractor for the first time. Meets Bethany Dunn who is a petite thing, says, "Can you talk to my girlfriend?"
i. I make an appointment so I can get adjusted and see if I like it, and so I can meet Bethany.
j. It was amazing to be adjusted and she fixed my wrist problem that no one else could fix.
k. I intern at her office, meet her husband, and learn about the business a little.
l. I finish my pre-requisite courses (I was missing a bunch of sciences), visit colleges, pick one, and pack up.
I left out a few parts where I completely freak out because: I'm going to be a minimum of 5 years older than my classmates and will I be able to keep up? am I smart enough? i'm having a hard time going up the stairs without being out of breath, am i fit enough? will i be able to handle dissecting a cadaver? will my grandmother die while i'm gone? and lots of other crazy thoughts that lead to me dropping about 40 lbs.
3. How do you keep the legacy of your mom alive, and is there anything else you would like to do to add to that?
I talk about her as if the whole room wants to meet this celebrity that I know. Get me started and I'll talk about her till I realize that no one else has said anything in a while.
I look for the little signs that are out there that she's still in my life. The job I have now, I took over an office for a woman who left to have a baby. That baby was born on my mom's birthday.
I remember the traits that she had that I loved about her and try to emulate that (I definitely don't have her patience). And when I do something that she used to do I give her credit. Like, if I get sappy around Valentines day and need to write a love note to my family, I do and remind them that mom used to. I picked up rocks for her in Europe and I touch the water for her whenever I go to the ocean.
I would like to create a photo journal. I know I have pictures of her. But I don't have photo albums of anyone, so all my photos are in a tupperwear bin. I should just pay someone to scrapbook for me because I don't enjoy doing it. And I would like to spend more time with my sisters because that is something she loved to do. Coincidentally I love it too.
4. Has anyone ever told you that you look like someone famous, and if so, who?
Once someone told me I look like michelle pfeiffer, as in, "You look like that cat-woman woman." It was obviously a very long time ago. I used to get Annie Lennox a lot when my head was shaved. But I think that was just the hairstyle. And I get told I look like some chick named Donna? I don't know what that's about.
5. And, because you liked my number 5 answer, what personal traits to you have that make you a strong woman?
I guess I never thought about being a strong woman. I know I have a strong personality, but that's not always a good thing. So here are some traits that I think a strong woman should have, some of them I have and some of them I aspire to have...
I often feel very small and powerless. So maybe humility is one of them. I think it's important that people know that it's ok to have feelings, even the not so nice ones. That chances are someone else has shared a similar experience or feeling so no one has to be alone or ashamed of those feelings.
Empathy is important because if you're "strong" without empathy, you just become someone who doesn't care about anything but your own feelings and opinions. (I'm sure some people think I am that, because I am often in my own world and haven't picked up on your feelings. Or sometimes I'm pigheaded and just think you're wrong. Ha! What a jerk.)
Having an opinion makes you strong...thinking for yourself and not just parroting back what the television, or your boyfriend, or husband or parents, or strong-willed girlfriends tell you to think. If you think you care about an issue, look into it, even a little, before you make a decision or especially a stand.
Flexibility - even if you had an opinion once for a very good reason, sometimes things change and you can change your mind without being "flaky" or "wishy-washy." As long as you're willing to admit what that change is, at least to yourself.
Acceptance of who and what you are, the willingness to change if there's something of which you're not proud. The ability to feel proud of yourself and your accomplishments.
Seeing the good in the world despite the fact that it's not always apparent.
The ability to express emotion. I used to really hate crying in front of people, but now I accept it as a part of who I am. I laugh at myself while I'm crying. And how the hell are people going to know how to talk to me if I don't express how I'm feeling? When I was a kid, having crushes on boys who didn't crush on me, I asked my brother "What do boys like in a girl?" And he said, "A girl who tells them how they feel, we're not mindreaders." The truth is, it's not just boys who can't read minds.