This place was a serious game changer. When I left Australia and arrived in Queenstown, New Zealand, a small, resort-like town located at the southern tip of the south island of New Zealand, I didn’t know just how much my life would change. I had run out of funds from travelling up the east coast and needed to get a new job. Unfortunately, I wasn’t great at waitressing, mainly because my hands are small and I had trouble holding multiple plates on my arm at the same time. So I needed to find a new gig. I made my way into the local gym, where I do my best thinking, and as I ran on the treadmill, it hit me like a brick in the face. Get a job at the gym! I wasn’t a trainer and had no interest in training. But I had been passionate about dancing, and figured I could fake my way through a hip hop class. So I approached the manager and asked if he was interested in offering a hip hop class, to which he happily responded yes. But he was also looking for an assistant manager to help him with operations, marketing, finance and management, to which I happily replied yes. I figured that while I was faking my way through the dance class, I might as well fake my way though another job that would pay me a lot more money. And I LOVED it! I knew how important exercise was for me, how it benefited me both physically and mentally. I felt stronger, more relaxed, and more confident. I believed in what we were selling, and so I could sell the crap out of it.
I worked there for a few months before it was time to move on to the next phase of my travel adventures, Bali. But when I got home at the end of that year, I found myself a job at a gym working in sales and management for three years before it was once again time to move on. While in Queenstown, I learned that I was passionate about physical and mental health, but I needed a new way to bring those two components together that was a bit more stimulating for me. That’s when I decided to go back to graduate school for a master’s degree in counselling & organizational psychology, and eventually start a clinical practice specializing in weight loss and lifestyle change. Ten years later I am still working in this area, and loving every minute of it. I help people to understand the psychological variables that result in them turning towards food as a coping strategy, and provide them with more effective tools for dealing with stress, anxiety and depression. Walking into that gym in Queenstown, New Zealand literally CHANGED EVERYTHING!
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