I was fortunate to grow up in the suburbs of Washington, DC where there were lots of trees and a summer camp with a week in the woods then another biking along the coast. Although I forgot about my bike when the excitement of getting my drivers license took over. When I got my 1st apartment, I decided to give up my car since getting around downtown was easy by walking, taking the metro or grabbing a cheap cab. However, I went into total culture shock when I moved to Southern California without a car. Finding a job and getting around was a real challenge. I took long bus rides or peddled around on a loaner bike and missed out on better job interviews requiring car ownership.
Through my experiences in urban city life and my college studies, I developed interests in transportation equity, environmental justice, and open space access. The challenges that a significant injury can bring especially when you don’t yet have a secure job with health insurance, was a crash course in the importance of healthy food, regular exercise and being your own advocate in the healthcare system. As I dealt with stress and chronic pain, spiritual practices like meditation became an integral part of the self-care that restored me to an active life. Combining walking and my love of nature became a favorite way to connect body and soul.
Moving to Greenville, South Carolina, I returned to a landscape lush with trees and full of opportunities to bike and enjoy the outdoors. I have recently started biking again for transportation and enjoy writing about my adventures on the road.
Any information I share about my experiences with supplements or therapies are NOT recommendations. Please keep in mind that “your mileage may vary.” I believe that there are no “one size fits all” solutions and that an important part of my healing journey has been to learn to listen to my own body.
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