About Me
Hello! If you’re here, then I bet you are busy with only a few moments here and there to sit, relax, and catch your breath. I also bet that during those few (maybe quiet!) moments, you want to delve into something uplifting, supportive, and just for you. I totally understand – that was me, too (and sometimes still is)!
My name is Nannette and I am an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach, certified through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, along with being a wife, mom, business owner, and special education teacher. I am also a whole-foods, plant-based recipe developer and love to cook, eat, and enjoy savoring delicious, exciting meals with the ones I love.
Over the years, I have had to learn how to wear MANY hats, but unfortunately, I have not always done that so well.
When my daughter was born, I committed to learn as much as I could about healthy living, both for her, and for myself and my husband. This was a little by little task; there was no overnight transformation. I devoured health and self-improvement books, websites and blogs dedicated to wellness, and listened to countless podcasts. I changed the way we ate, what we cleaned the house with, the beauty products I used, and even the vitamins and supplements we took. But still, and I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, something was off.
I was running a million miles an hour to keep up with the demands of being a special education teacher (my first career of over a decade), being a new mom to my little girl, trying to maintain a healthy marriage and manage a home. I didn’t realize it, but over time, I was becoming the most exhausted, empty version of myself I had ever known. I was giving to everyone, and never filling my own cup. I was doing all the “right” things, but not in the right order or at the right pace. I was never replenishing adequately or significantly enough to make up for what I lost day after day. I was angry, bitter, and resentful. I loved my husband and daughter immensely, was grateful for my teaching job, and enjoyed the comfortable and cozy home we had created. But the complete burn-out that I was experiencing had somehow replaced the peace, joy, and satisfaction I wanted to feel with anxiety, irritability, and overwhelm. I could never relax, never truly stop this breakneck pace. And then it happened.
I was driving home from running an errand one Saturday morning in early June, and I was overcome with an intense panic. I wasn’t at work; school had ended for the summer a week prior. I wasn’t upset about anything or in a hurry to get anywhere, but my body argued otherwise. I was nauseous, sweaty, dizzy, I couldn’t catch my breath, my arms and hands felt numb and heavy. I thought I was going to blackout at the wheel. Terrified that I was going to have a heart attack or stroke, I pulled over and called 911. Soon, paramedics had loaded me into an ambulance and rushed me to the hospital. After running a barrage of tests, everything came back the same – I was “fine”. So what was my problem? I was lying in the hospital bed, mentally beating myself up, wondering silently, “How could I let this happen?”, as if, had I only tried harder, this wouldn’t have happened. Again, I was completing ignoring what my body was screaming to tell me: “SLOW DOWN AND PUT FIRST THINGS FIRST!”
I left the hospital that afternoon a bit shaken up, but with a renewed sense of purpose. I needed to identify what was truly most important in my life, and put my priorities in the right order. I needed to identify where to direct my best time and energy, and how to cultivate what I really wanted and needed. In other words, I had to put first things first.
Putting first things first was (and still is) a process of putting all the right things together: eating well, sleeping well, caring for myself, my family, thriving in a career I love, growing my spirituality, nurturing my relationships – but in an order that makes sense and prioritizes what was truly most important, and gracefully over time letting go of what is not.
I can help you do the same…check out my signature coaching program here and take the first step towards finally aligning your time and energy with your most important priorities.
