The following is a something I posted at
http://tjedonline.ning.com (a TJEd group I belong to online). I decided to also post it on my blog for any who might be intersted. It is a little long winded:) Alot of the phrasing I use might be foreign if you don't know much about TJEd. Feel free to ask me or visit
http://www.tjed.org or
http://www.tjedonline.com/ or read the book for more details:) It is a life changing book!:)
I just had to share what is brewing and bubbling inside of me. When I discovered TJEd not even a year ago, it was during my constant research and pursuit of how to homeschool my children. My children are only 1 & 4 but I had decided to homeschool before they were born and began my investigations before they were born. After reading TJEd I knew I had found my foundation for the homeschooling of my children...little did I know how much it would change ALL aspects of my life and not just how I would homeschool my children.
Since last June when I first read TJEd I have been on fire! The intensity waxes and wanes with the daily happenings of life, but has been on a steady up hill slope. I have read so many books, have thought so many new thoughts, have found answers to so many questions related to everything in my life. I have seen the possibilities open before me and the confidence to pursue them is increasing. As many of us are pioneers because we did not have a true scholar phase during our adolescent/young adult years we are pursuing not only scholar & depth phase but trying to pursue our mission phase at the same time. Some of us have also had to start from the beginning with core and love of learning. I felt I had a good core but did have to have a love of learning phase. Right now I feel as if I'm in that transition stage to scholar while at the same time sky rocketing into a mission phase (this very recent:)
I want to be more specific with what I mean about sky rocketing ito mission phase. In mission phase we build 2 towers...family and organization. Building the family tower seemed obvious to me as I have a family and truly want to build a strong one, but I bucked at the organization tower for a while. My concept of building an "organization" was one that included starting this business that eventually was huge and the only people I have actually seen pursuing a mission phase were those at TJEd conventions who are advocating in areas surrounding TJEd. My concept has changed and I have discovered my path, that my mission doesn't mean putting all of me into promoting TJEd principles. This is a completely wonderful mission for others and I am so grateful that people are doing it because it is important, but that is not what is in store for me. I have had times even before discovering TJEd that I would touch on this path briefly and then brush it away. The times that I touch this path have increased and slowly my ideas have been molded into something that is almost tangible to me...although still it feels light years away also.
By profession I am a registered nurse. I practiced in a hospital for 4 years on a heart/stroke unit before resigning after my second child was born. It was a difficult transition for me because I identified myself a lot by my profession and liked being a nurse. Of course I loved being a mom too but still wanted that artificial aura of importance connected with having a profession. I took me time but I finally arrived at a point where I thought I could set my license aside forever and never look back. That has waxed and waned also:) Sometimes I feel like I will never practice as a nurse again and other times I feel like I will. One thing I know for certain is I have little to no desire to return to hospital nursing. One of the things that frustrated me the most was educating patients. I truly believe the best way to approach health care is through prevention with education, life style changes, and health promotion. We live in a very unhealthy society that is getting worse. I love educating patients and seeing the light bulbs turn on, but that is rare in a hospital setting. Patients in a hospital are not in the best position to receive any education, let alone retain it. Plus once they leave my care that's the last time I see them. I have felt if I did return to nursing it would be in an out of hospital setting that allowed me to work with patients to educate them about their disease and help them set and reach goals to improve their own lives. I have mulled this over in my mind several times, each time fine tuning, but feel I've finally struck gold.
While continuing to study the principles of TJEd I realized they could apply to a person trying to make significant lifestyle changes in regards to health. I began to see that I could become a mentor to people struggling to make those lifestyle changes they desperately need to improve their quality of life and extend their lives by regaining their health. I could use the 7 keys and 5 environments and apply them uniquely to helping patients attain their goals. This is still a very new development in my thoughts and nothing is fully developed as far as how I will go about it, I only know that it feels right and I am completely inspired and excited. It may be years before all my ideas and things develop into a tangible organization but I'm excited and have a direction. My husband is finishing his second year in medical school and in five years after the remainder of medical school and residency we plan to re locate to his hometown. He loves his hometown and I have developed a love for the town since marrying him. Both of us want to make an impact on the health of the people in that town by inspiring them to help themselves, instilling hope in them that they CAN change their lifestyles and gain control over many of their health problems. We are looking forward to working together on this each of us in our unique rolls of doctor and nurse.
Well I rambled more than I intended but I am just brimming with excitement and had to share. This was the best place I felt I could share because discovering TJEd is what ignited the fire and opened the possibilities before me.
