Living and Learning.

I am feeling pretty proud of myself today.  I have just enrolled for two courses I have been wanting to take for such a long time, I have finally taken the plunge and I am so glad.

I was going to go on and talk about how the last year was so hard and I have to move on, blah blah blah, but you know what? I am not going to go on about that, suffice to say I am making massive changes in 2011 and by doing these courses I will be able to open up not only a new way of life for myself but also eventually a totally new working/career direction.

Ok, so let me tell you more about the two courses I am taking up:

Professional Smoking Cessation Therapy: This course will enable me to help individuals and groups to stop smoking and stay stopped, its a very in depth course which goes into the anatomy and addiction module, plus other factors and causes.  This is a cause VERY close to my heart, since losing my Mum last year I have longed to find a way to make a difference.  For those who don't know, my Mum died of COPD a chronic and progressive disease of the lungs and airways, this disease is 100% attributed to her many years of heavy smoking, despite knowing at at 37 she was suffering irreversible lung damage, she continued to smoke into her late 50's eventually passing away in a very, very traumatic and painful way at age just 61.  My grief will fuel me in this course, I care passionately about the cause and as an ex-smoker myself I can also relate to the whole withdrawal process both mentally and physically.

Nutritionist: Ok, this course will (eventually) qualify me as a professional Nutritionist.  In some ways I think this will be the harder learning curve for me, but again I have been interested in this field for quite some time.  I KNOW I can bring a lot to the table on this for the reason that I am a Size Acceptance advocate, and I am strong believer in HAES (health at every size).  It would be my belief that many fat people would be put off using a nutritionist for fear of being ridiculed or judged on their size, that's not going to happen with me!  This is a really thorough course and one I am relishing just as much as I know I can make a difference with this.

So, I am feeling pretty proud of myself today, I might even to treat myself to some totally unnecessary new pens!!  I am absolutely sure I have made the right decision here and look forward to getting the old grey matter moving again, this time in the RIGHT direction.