Normally my Jewish mother brags about my accomplishments, which is great because frankly, it sounds better coming from someone else's mouth! Today I have hit a huge milestone and accomplishment in the nutrition world, and I want to share this joy with my community. I always knew I wanted to be a CCN (Certified Clinical Nutritionist) because all of my mentors had this credentiall. If I wasn't going to be Beyonce' when I grew up (there's still time), then I was happy to accept second place alongside the very people who inspired me to do what I do today. In order to become a CCN, you need to have a Master's Degree in Nutrition and 5 years experience in the field of practice. Once one gets that far, they need to complete a year's worth of schooling through the CCN program (this took me three years as I was running a business at the same time) diving deep into homeopathy, herbology, lab testing, hormones, and so on, with more detail than ever before. The final hoop to jump through is a rigorous exam that requires 3 months of study.
I am going to share with you that after almost 10+ years of working in the field of nutrition, I "failed" the exam by ONE POINT. ONE...POINT. I couldn't believe it. I am an A+ student and overachiever, I couldn't accept that not only did I not ace this test but I actually had failed it. As I've taught you, there is a lesson to be learned in every experience. This lesson for me was one of mistaking the roles we play with the identify of "who" we are. After failing the test, I felt so lost. I thought "who am I if I am not the smarty pants I think myself to be?"
As you see from my goofy pics above, I argued a test question and they passed me! The reason why I take this vulnerable gesture in sharing is because there is a lesson in everything we do and I want to share my experience in the hope of collectively dropping the roles we play and actually being who we are meant to be instead of who we think we should be. I was reminded that "nutritionist" is not WHO I AM, it is what I do to fulfill my passion. When we start to identify with our roles (mother, employee, partner, sister, athlete, executive etc..) and confuse them with "who we are" we set ourselves up for disappointment and miscommunication, much like the mother who experiences empty nest syndrome. Her inner turmoil is truly "who am I if I am not the person who carpools, makes the meals, and watches over my child?" If she realized that who she is is far more than her role as "mom", that transition would be one of ease.
Bottom line is this: "who" you are is not what you know, what you have, the car you drive, the clothes you wear, or the money you make. Roles will undoubtedly come and go. The less we identify with them, the less suffering we experience. As we decrease suffering (pain, anger, disappointment, sadness) we eliminate the need to numb ourselves through food, television, drugs, alcohol and so on. As we all set intentions (not resolutions, we've already broken all of those by now) for 2014, I'd like you to think about defining yourself by the love that you give and share, and less by roles you happen to be playing at this point in your life. I look forward to another wonderful year of helping all of you live your health dream and let go of the stories and roles that are no longer serving you.
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