Why Health Coaching?
Understanding why I choose this path of serving others through health lifestyle development and how to Change life paths effectively.
If you were to ask the 16-year-old Dylan what he thought he would be doing for a living in 10-15 years. Health coaching was never on my radar. I would have told you a Law Enforcement Officer at the state or federal level. All I wanted to do was be a Dog Handler. Health coaching what’s that?
I grew up in a stereotypical middle-class family in New Jersey. Food was always abundant- never went hungry. I am grateful to have had this. But too much of anything is a bad thing. And I grew up pretty overweight.
I was called a beached whale at 10 years old, 200lbs 5’4” at 14. Health coaching was never even an option.
At around 16 years old, I lost my grandfather. He was my best friend and an Italian immigrant. Health was never at the focal point for him. He was extremely overweight and his lifestyle factor was to blame. To his credit, he was attempting to fix it. I can recall him talking about going to his “food doctor”. A widow maker took his life at 72 years old. From then on, I knew I had to try to understand anything I could about health and nutrition. Making a promise to myself to help others improve their lifestyles so others wouldn’t have to feel the pain I felt at that moment.
I had no idea there was any sort of professional path to do so. So I decided to join the United States Marine Corps after High School, continuing to learn about and apply the lessons from health and nutrition books, posts, videos, etc.
When I was Honorably Discharged from the Marines as a Sergeant in 2016 I continued the pursuit of my Law Enforcement Career. While in school for Criminal Justice, one of my professors advised us that if we wanted better job opportunities in the Federal government, don’t get a criminal justice degree. To get a degree in something we loved. This leads me to learn about becoming a dietitian. And degree paths and schools were switched in an instant.
I moved to Indianapolis to learn from Zach Homol, a rough around the edges coal miner from West Virginia, a world recorder powerlifter, and newly minted business owner of Iron Valley Barbell. All while attending Ball State University an hour's drive northwest in Muncie, Indiana.
I surrounded myself around the team at IVB and learned as much as I could in class and out about nutrition, I found my way to working the gym floor at IVB. Personal Training clients taught me a lot about communication and the importance of coaching the clients where they’re at. This made me fall in love with serving others through health, fitness, and nutrition. I started seeing the opportunities to work for myself but I wasn’t sure yet.
I graduated from Ball State with a degree in Nutrition & Dietetics. Moving to Stillwater, Oklahoma right after for graduate school. Moving there was a huge step in my development. For the first time in years, my fiance Cheyenne and I were away from all of our support systems. This gave me more room to see clearly where I wanted to take this. I was enjoying grad school and passing all my classes but wasn’t sure about continuing the Dieteitic path. It was a phone call with Zach that helped me see things more vividly. After a few weeks of meditating and praying for the direction to take, I decided to bet it all on myself.
This leads me to where we are now. Coaching and developing myself and others to lead and develop a healthy lifestyle. Seeing the impact and lives changed made me understand that this is what I am supposed to be doing.
Understanding that no matter how convicted we feel about our original plans, life has an interesting way of working itself out and leading us down the path we’re meant to be on… if you’re willing to have faith and trust your gut.
If you find yourself at a crossroads in career or life directions here are 3 simple tips to clarify your decision:
Create a Pro/Con list
Obviously to see what are the positives and negatives about the situation you’re facing. Other than just listing each, give each one weight on a scale of 1 to 10. If you had 1 positive that was a 10 and 3 cons that were 2’s then the pros will outweigh the cons.
Speak with Trusted Individuals
Sometimes speaking about what’s going on with those you respect, love, and care for can help the decision-making process. Hearing yourself discuss what’s on your mind will shine a light on paths/ideas that may have been in the dark about the decision. But at the end of the day, the decision rest in your hands. Trust your gut.
JUMP
You hear all the time- “I was gonna do “x” but “y” happened”. Inaction leads to regret and excuses. When you make the final decision, rest assured it will be the right one. You must risk it all for yourself to find true purpose and fulfillment in the decision you make. If you never take the chance, regret will be harbored within. Tearing you down a bit each day you leave that behind.
**BONUS**
BE FUCKIN RELENTLESS
DON’T YOU FUCKIN QUIT. Good things come in due time, put in the work no matter how hard it is and you will be blessed with the opportunities you seek. Don’t stop making forward progress.
Struggling to Create Change in your life?
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