LVA : MyBlogHer Profile

That profile pic is me. Pretty tough huh? 

Yeah well, once you get to know me you'll find out I am total softie.

I have been fighting since I was 22, well over a decade. Please don't try to add up numbers, no matter my age I am still rocking it in the sport of kickboxing. I find that as I get older, I get better. Nothing beats experience! I am on the US National Kickboxing team and 2011 saw me fighting on an international scale that I plan to continue to rise to the top of in 2012. Fighting isn't the only important thing about me but it does explain a lot about who I am. I found my way to the sport when I was 19 years old. I was suffering from lack of motivation, depression, and a really skewed sense of my skills and talents. Suffice to say my self-esteem was KO-ed and I didn't see myself coming back from it. (oh yeah, another thing about me...I love using metaphors, really obvious ones) And then...I put on gloves and punched some pads. My life changed right there. In that moment I felt strong, and confident. The feeling didn't stay with me right away. I spent a few years struggling to find the light and laughter living within me, learning to love who I was, and gaining confidence in myself.

But even in those bleak years, I always knew that I could lace up my gloves and punch/kick my problems away for an hour. And now I am proud to say I am someone who walks boldly forward towards my dreams.

 In actuality the journey I am on was spawned from that first kickboxing class I took at 19.  Btw, I went into that class in tears, and the owners Suzanne and Beth Williams helped me see that there was so much in my life to get excited about. I went from feeling defeated in life to living my victory. I am in LOVE with my life, and I have lots of dreams, BIG dreams. One of them is a gold medal and a world kickboxing championship. I am well on my way and have competed in the last year in 4 bouts fighting on the world stage of kickboxing including the WAKO world championships.

An even bigger dream of mine, and the ULTIMATE GOLD for me is empowering individuals to follow their dreams and live life proudly and joyfully in the body that was gifted to them. I believe that if you move your body with love and appreciation, that love will spread into your life.  I want to help spread that love in the world, like a yummy nut butter on some banana bread...mmmmm.