I've been asked this question throughout my career, but lately it seems this question has arisen a lot - What made you become an acupuncturist?
I love sharing my acupuncture journey because it's an awesome example of advice I remember hearing from Oprah Winfrey when I saw her live....listen to the whispers. The whispers are the subtle clues that give us insight, that nudge us to go towards a certain direction. Ultimately, the whispers are what give us clarity, especially when things are murky.
My murkiness was in my mid twenties when I was working as a massage therapist. I enjoyed helping people, but I also found massage very taxing physically and energetically. One day, I decided to sit quietly with my thoughts, and these things came to mind.
I want to continue helping people by deepening what I am currently doing.
I want to work for myself.
I want the ability to work full time or part time depending on my life needs.
I want to make X amount of money.
I want the ability to work anywhere.
I wrote each of these points down, imagining that I'd spend however long meditating on these things and thoughts would come to me. What I didn't expect was that the minute I was finished writing I sensed a very loud whisper.
ACUPUNCTURE.
It was so crystal clear. Immediately, I felt excitement in my abdomen and I sat up straighter. Then my logical mind kicked in....
Really? You grew up afraid of needles and the sight of blood and you've never experienced acupuncture.
I took a deep breath after that passing thought, and the whisper got louder.
ACUPUNCTURE.
Logic wasn't about to give up.
So where are you going to learn that? China? How long will that take? How will you pay for that?
Before I could take another breath, the whisper was no longer subtle.
ACUPUNCTURE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's difficult to describe, but I felt lit up, like a small flame inside of me suddenly got extremely bright. I quickly recognized that my logical side was simply my fears making themselves heard, and because I felt so lit, I quickly moved away from the quiet space I had created and jumped into searching for information to quell my fears.
For the next few weeks, my spare time was filled with researching acupuncture schools and tuition costs all while envisioning how I would balance working and going to school. Still, all throughout that time, I continued to feel lit up, even when I was faced with the realities of tuition and commuting costs (thankfully I did not need to commute to China since there were several schools in the tri-state area). All of these barriers seemed quite scary considering I had maybe $1,500 to my name at that time. Thankfully, the flame inside of me was brighter than my fears.
Obviously, everything worked out....and thanks to that experience, I always pay attention to the whispers.
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