I’m SO excited to announce the launch of Optimal Living, a local television series and online information service about taking an integrated approach to well-being. I really do believe that a balanced and integrated approach to well-being is essential for living to our best potential. And I believe this because of my own personal experiences with what can happen when we don’t take an integrated approach.
My passion for this project was initially borne out of a very sad personal story that had a tragic ending. You see, while I was growing up and throughout my adult life, my mom suffered from depression. She was a gentle, kind and generous soul whose lack of a solid foundation of well-being was both a primary source of - and the fuel for - her lifelong struggle with depression. Just taking pills for her “condition” neither fixed the problem with depression nor boosted her well-being sufficiently for her to have the quality of life that she deserved; that we all deserve.
My mom ended her struggle in 2008 in a tragic suicide. It was not her first attempt.
Spurred by my frustration and grief in dealing with both the life and the loss of my mom, and with other concurrent and subsequent challenges in my own life with career, relationships and family, there came a point when I realized that my own sense of well-being was completely depleted. I felt so disconnected, discontent, anxious and frustrated with circumstances in my life that I was getting frequent debilitating headaches (that were not relieved at all by medications), and I began to sink into what felt like depression myself.
Determined not to resign to a life of these conditions, and frustrated that my mom hadn’t been able to find her way to a happy life, I began a deep and broad search for "the path to wellness". My search led me down many paths to well-being, and as I explored different avenues and dove into various solutions, I learned more and more about how these varied and diverse paths to wellness intersect with one another and complement one another. Applying what I learned (and what I continue to learn) in my own life has lifted me out of the fog, and served to build back my own sense of well-being. I no longer get the headaches, and I feel positive and empowered in a way that haven’t felt before in my life. Finding some answers and solutions for myself – solutions that I think could have helped my mom - brought me to this project: Optimal Living.
My hope is that by sharing this knowledge on the integrated nature of well-being, and by providing resources and information that people can apply to benefit their own lives, that I might be able to help prevent others from living with the kind of despair that my mom experienced. I want to help transform other sad stories into happy endings, because I know that it can be done, and I believe that we’re all here to live the very best life we’re capable of living.
Optimal Living is for all those people who are struggling in one or more areas of their life; for people who love someone who is struggling; and for ANYONE who really wants to make the most out of their life and to truly experience OPTIMAL LIVING!
This one's for you, mom. With love.
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