Wednesday, March 25, 2015

My Journey to Now




Leading up to my senior year of college, I had been battling a number of injuries and spending the majority of my time in the athletic training room attempting to rehab my ankles, knees and hips. As a college soccer player it wasn’t unheard of for people to spend a lot of time in the training room but I remember always questioning why so many people lived in that room. Each and every one of us knew it wasn’t a place we wanted to spend our time, however for some reason it was inevitable that we would end up in there at some point or another. After exhausting all other options a teammate recommended I go to Rehab United to be evaluated and my athletic trainer agreed. I remember walking into the building and having this feeling that I was in the right place.  

My evaluation would end up being with one of the most amazing and influential people still in my life today, Arturo. Immediately I knew I was in a place where people cared about me on a level that no other medical professional ever had and their ultimate goal was to get me back on the soccer field. Two times a week I would spend 2+ hours rehabbing my ankle and finally I was seeing changes in strength, mobility, and stability not only of my ankle but my body as a whole. The movements, stretches, exercises, and thought processes were unlike anything I had ever seen before but it was working. It was during this time frame that my idea of physical fitness, therapy, and movement as a whole was transformed into a new philosophy that was being studied by only a small portion of the world. Where did this concept begin you ask?…in a very small town in Michigan known as Adrian.

Now flashback to my childhood years. At a very young age I knew that the profession I chose would be a position where I could influence the lives of other’s. My dad was a Chiropractor and although I knew that was not the career for me, I saw the passion he had and the love he had for every person he came in contact with. He touched lives, as many as he possibly could, and he would continue to do that for the 20 years he practiced. He taught me what love was, what love is and how to show that love even when you feel as if your world is falling apart. He received that strength from his mother, my grandmother, who was one of the most amazing women I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. I am truly lucky to call both of them family and I am a better human being for not only knowing the both of them but for being blessed to have them as part of my every day. 

In January of 2009 I would begin working as a volunteer for Rehab United in order to complete my senior capstone project. I fell in love with everything about RU and everyone at RU had fully accepted me into their lives. I felt like I was apart of something so much bigger, something that was changing the lives of every person that walked through the door and making people better in more ways than one. It was how I had always witnessed my father care for people and I felt safe in a place that was driven by passion for people. I would later find out that my purpose for being at Rehab United was far beyond anything I could have ever imagined because that following December my dad would pass away from a heart attack and the following June my grandma would pass away from cancer. My two best friends had been ripped away from my life and I felt like I had nothing. I was lost, very lost, but I had reason to be or at least thats what everyone would tell me. I was sad and questioned whether I could continue to make it through each day. Some days I believe the only reason I did make it through was because of God and the hope that I had of one day feeling less heart ache and suffering. So, as most people do I kept moving along one step in front of the other and attempting to make sense of my world that had been flipped upside down. 


At that point in my life I needed something to focus on because what do we do as humans when things aren’t going well, we find that one thing or a few things to take over our thoughts. You may call it running away but at the time the only thing that helps people move on is staying busy. Some people run to things such as; drugs, alcohol, exercise, people, or anything else that seems to make them feel even a little better at the time. For me, it was applied functional science. I chose to suffocate my thoughts into my job and to the people I came in contact with every day. I found this extreme passion for learning this concept that most people had no understanding of and all I wanted was to change the lives of the people walking through the doors of Rehab United. Each night I studied different cases and immersed myself into understanding the biomechanics of the body. I came to work every single day with at least one question and would not quit until I found the answer. I am sure the physical therapists at Rehab United got sick of me at times because I was constantly bothering them. I wanted their eyes, I wanted to see what they were seeing and understand how they could look at a person walking and break down every movement of their body in all three planes of motion. I found myself coming into work hours early for my shift for the sole purpose of being able to sit in on evaluations or even daily treatments without having to work as an aide. The minute I walked out of the building at the end of the day I was completely exhausted and emotionally drained. I spent my drives home crying with an overwhelming feeling of being alone. The worst feeling was walking out of those doors of RU knowing I would have to go home to an empty house without my dad there to ask about my day. Rehab United had become my safe haven, it was a place I could call home where I knew people loved me and supported me. I didn’t want to leave.


Rehab United and Applied Functional Science not only saved my life but it also opened my eyes to a completely different world. Suddenly I gained the ability to look at people and trust in a full recovery, a recovery that would get people back to not only daily function but to any and every goal they had for themselves. I witnessed lives being transformed through love and compassion. My compassion for the injured grew immensely and I began to see both psychological and physical aspects to pain, especially chronic pain. It was no longer about me and my struggles but how I could work on learning to leave my own life struggles at the door in order to fully care for those in need. Some days that wasn’t possible but the coworkers and patients that always had my back made sure that I made it through those days. It wasn’t easy by any means and it was probably more difficult on those people who were there day in and day out, who saw me at my worst and still loved me the same. Every single one of those people brought light into a world that was very dark and they are the people that I can’t even begin to thank enough.


It’s now March 25th 2014 and it has been 4 1/2 years since my world took a turn for the worse. I have went off path a number of times, I have ran away from a lot of things, but one thing I have always done is make sure I face anything I knew I needed to. So, I returned to San Diego from Colorado in order to find myself yet again and work on those things.  Immediately after returning I knew I needed to push myself to make some sort of step forward especially in my career. My client base and class numbers were increasing and my passion for personal training was growing. It was time to accept my position at Rehab United fully in my heart and buy into growing as a personal trainer with the goal of touching as many lives as possible.

I began writing this post on the plane coming home from Adrian, Michigan after attending my first GIFT gathering. For those who don’t know, GIFT is a 40 week online fellowship of Applied Functional Science that includes visiting Adrian three different times for in person lectures about the material. It’s pretty amazing to be in a room filled with over 100 people coming from all different backgrounds including 15 different countries to learn and grasp a concept that seems incredibly foreign to most of them. Some of those 100 people are wondering if they even believe it to be true, however as its performed right in front of their eyes you see the transformation take place in every single one of them. I have been a fortunate one who has been able to learn AFS the past 5 years from some incredibly knowledgeable people at my clinic, which meant very little was new or unknown to me. As usual, my mind was racing with a billion questions. I wanted to pick their brain and understand movements being demonstrated further than what was being discussed. I quickly realized that what I would get out of this course wouldn’t necessarily be the same as every other person sitting in that room. The challenge for me was and is going to be finding ways to use my knowledge to help others grasp a very difficult concept. More importantly what I learned this past weekend was that I must believe in myself and believe in the knowledge I have. In some weird way, Gary Gray allowed me the ability to finally realize that my vision of how the body moves is something special, that I am something special and that I will be given the opportunity to positively alter the lives of every single person that comes into my life. The friendships I will gain and the self belief I will continue to gain means so much more than any course content because it is those things that can change the world we live in.


I am still here today with a purpose of serving others and giving them hope when they struggle to find any on their own. I will have my bad days but I am so much further along then I was months after losing my father. I read something the other day that I had wrote three months after my dad passed that talked about how I couldn’t believe I made it three months without my father by my side. I remember those days. I remember wondering how I could go on, if I could go on, If I even wanted to go on and if I had a purpose to living with my dad no longer being there.  As I look back now those words were coming from a heart that was so pain struck that I had lost all ability to see any sort of light. Those words are crazy to comprehend because there has never been a day that my dad is not with me. People wonder why I am the way that I am and it’s all because of my father. I guarantee that he is living through me in order to continue transforming peoples lives one at a time. It’s weird to acknowledge but I see more of his traits in me now that he is gone than I ever did before. He will always live through me and I know that even in my most difficult moments he will never let me give up because he knows how many people need to feel my love.


Thank you for taking the time to read this and thank you for caring so much about me. Thank you to those people who have never given up on me and have always supported every decision I have made. Remember to be grateful for what you have in your life and to never lose compassion for people. We all need to feel loved and if we can just show a little more love each day slowly this world will become a much brighter place. Believe in yourself and believe that you have the power to change others lives.

God Bless,
Taylor


Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Disconnect

Disconnect is a word that has resonated frequently through my mind, as well as, through words directed at me from those close to me. Upon returning home I found myself excited to be surrounded by people I had not seen, some of which I had not even spoken to in some time. Moving away challenges relationships, distance challenges communication, and the term "out of sight out of mind" although its perception being incredibly negative, tends to ring more true than any one of us would like to admit. Although I thought it would be different, the inevitable happened and after being in Colorado for a few months, communication slowly dwindled with those in San Diego. Of course returning home, the place I was born and raised, the place I had built so many friendships with countless amounts of people would bring lots of excitement. However, as time passed that excitement  became far and few between. I slowly began to find myself in this place where all I wanted was to be alone. I felt a disconnect from everyone, especially those who had grown to know so much about me. I found myself looking forward to the moment I could leave work and either go home or go to the gym. Those two places became a place of freedom for me. It had never been that way. I had always wanted people around me. I felt myself slipping into this lonely world where I pushed every person out of my life and the minute I felt someone getting close to me I ran even further away. Some of you who know my story would say its the time of year, but in my heart I knew that wasn't true.

It's now January, which means I reached the four year mark of the day I lost my father, my best friend, and my biggest supporter. Although the last four years seem to have passed by quickly, in some ways its also been the slowest four years of my life. At times it also seems like the most pointless four years of my life. But, the real Taylor knows that is not the truth. You may read that and get upset, especially if you played a role in that time frame or if I met you for the first time during those four years. It is for that reason I hope you take a moment to step back and understand that those words are coming from the side of myself that is grieving not the piece of my heart that truly believes that all things happen for a reason. The darkest of days have brought light into my world and the toughest moments have made me so much stronger. The people I have met along the way have taught me an incredible amount about life. Some of those moments I may not necessarily want to relive but they happened and I am still grateful for each and every one of them. No one person should ever take offense to the things I say or do. I am learning to pick up the pieces of everything I have lost and still become the person I know my father wants me to become. It's not easy but nothing that comes easy is worth it.

I will admit that I have been disconnected from almost every person in my life good or bad. I have pushed a lot of you away, some on purpose and others by accident. But I am here to say that it is something I have needed to do. I am in a place right now where I need people to be there but to also understand that they may not get from me everything they are used to receiving. I have spent a lot of my life pouring so much into people but have reached a point where I just can't do that anymore. I have very little to give but I do my best each day to wake up with a positive attitude and provide some sort of support to every person I come in contact with.  I still care, I will always care, and if you know me you should know that times like these kill me. I find myself to be so angry. Angry that I lost my dad. Angry that certain things have happened in my life and that people have treated me how they have. Angry that I have put so much into people that will never actually understand my sole purpose of life, which is to just love people. And angry at the amount of times I have been taken advantage of.

The truth is though, as you look at the list of what I am angry about, the number one reason I am so angry is because it's hard to look at myself in the mirror and be proud of who I am and where I am at. My emotions are stuck on all the bad that has happened to me because the real problem I need to face is starring right back at me. These are the battles I constantly go through. These are the battles I talk very little about. I have sat down probably twenty times to write and not a single word has been entered. Afraid, yes maybe. Afraid to be honest, not with all of you, but with myself. Afraid to admit that I am struggling to find happiness and to find my place in this world. I am passionate, don't get me wrong, but the drive I once had was lost the minute I find out that my dad would no longer be apart of my life.

My hope for anyone reading this is to understand where I am coming from. As much as I needed to write, I also needed those of you in my life to hear whats on my heart and to know that disconnecting myself is my way of dealing with the stuff I am going through. Losing someone close to you makes the world a very different place. Things that used to be normal no longer are. Places that used to have so much meaning become difficult to revisit. Second families become more difficult to spend time with because it just makes you miss what used to be. Seeing people with their fathers can also make me feel even more disconnected because of not having that relationship anymore. These are things no one should feel sorry for its just part of the grief process and some days are worse than others.

I am working towards figuring all these things out. I am hoping to find ways to cope with the disconnect I feel from the world. I am trying my best to not push away the good things and the good people that have recently entered my life because of fear. I am releasing the old while realizing who and what is important to me. I am taking the time to figure out what type of people I want in my life and although selfish at times, not wasting time on those who only look to me because they need me. I also know that I need to start challenging myself and taking leaps of faith to get where I know I can. I need to put certain things in my life before others and not allow anything to come in the way of those. This place I am in is far from easy. I have spent a lot of time dealing with emotions that I have bottled up and I think it's what scares me about letting anyone in.

God Bless,
Taylor