Ingrid Geertsema
I knew from a very early age that I wanted different things. I did not want to “travel” the conventional road, I simply wanted to be free. After graduating university in 2000, I traveled to South Africa, and it was love at first sight. Drawn by all things natural, I worked in the safari industry for the first ten years, traveling all over Southern Africa whilst being based in the bush. In 2009 I started my own travel agency. To most people, I was living the life.
But whilst enjoying all the adventure and excitement I also wrestled with a crippling lack of self-worth, which formed the foundation of many unhealthy choices. On the outside I was tough, confident, capable and strong, but on the inside I felt unseen, unheard, and unloved. By the time I reached 36 (2010) my emotional health had completely unraveled. I felt alone, lost, scared, and depressed. I know now that I had completely disconnected.
Unless you change direction, you will end up where you’re headed and so I started to read, listen, and study the attitudes and behaviours of wholehearted people. I felt the first loud “click” when I took in a stray puppy of 4 months old in 2013. My growing connection with Bug changed everything and during the course of the next couple of years I took ownership of my physical and emotional health, and I let go of toxic influences.. In 2018 I transitioned to a vegan lifestyle, a final step to align my values with actions and one of the best decisions I ever made.
From when we are little we are taught to prioritise education, work, money, relationships and children over our own physical and emotional health, but there always – sooner or later – comes a reckoning point from which there is sometimes no return.
Unless YOU change direction, HOW will you be in 10 years?
Are you around 40 and struggling to get a grip on your health and well-being? Do you feel you have tried everything and still you battle to manage your weight? Do you feel tired all the time and yet you have trouble sleeping at night? Do you lie awake worrying about the increasing gap between what you dreamed your life would look like, compared to what it actually is? Do you feel lost and alone, unable to roll with life’s punches? Are you experiencing health warnings? If even one of your answers is YES, then you are ready to Get Health Coached!
I am a certified Life Coach and NLP Practitioner, a Vegan Nutrition Health Coach (internationally accredited) and a Health Transformation Coach.
