Back to School.... for the Mum!

Just three more weeks until the boys head back to school, but this mama has already beaten them to getting started this year.

I haven't worked a full time job now in seven years.  Seven years.  Wow, that time has gone by so quickly.  After finishing a wildlife degree and an education degree, I spent four years teaching adult education in the NWT and Nunavut.  I loved the work, but once we moved to Faro I realized we could live off of one salary and chose to be a stay-at-home parent.

During these seven years I have done some work.  For about a year and a half I worked creating and editing high school study guides, I was hired by the school to clean out and organize their science labs, and of course there has been my crafting.

The school has asked me every year, a few times a year, if I want to teach but it would just make our lives much too busy and stressful.  I love that I have time to volunteer around town and in the school, and sit on a few committees.  If I was working full or part time I am pretty sure a lot of that would have to be dropped.

But in just one more year, both of my boys will be in school full time and I will have six hours a day to do something.  I thought about expanding my crafting, but that is a very sedentary activity and I think I just want to keep it as my hobby.

So what am I doing?

Well, I am now planning on becoming a Certified Personal Trainer and Certified Nutrition Coach!  I have started my courses in both areas and am enjoying them a lot so far.  I can do almost all of my certification online, but I will head to Vancouver sometime this year to take one of the courses in person.  I am a total nerd and love to study!  I have notes, coloured pens, and flashcards all going at the kitchen table.

My plan is to finish the course work over this next year while Cavan is in school still just part time.  Once both of them are full time I will start up my own small business at our little gym in Faro.  I will be able to work one-on-one with clients helping them with their exercise and nutrition goals.  There is also funding from other groups that I can apply for to help me run programs for people in town at a low cost to them.  Another area I am looking to get into is exercise for seniors.  There are courses I can take after I get my certification that will allow me to do this! 

I was really nervous when even thinking about taking these classes.  While I have lost a lot of weight, I still do not see myself as an incredibly fit person.  Whenever I have thought of a personal trainer, I just thought of someone super buff who runs marathons or something along those lines.  But I think I can bring a lot of personal experience clients because of my weight loss and all the positive changes I have made in my life.

It is also a job that will keep me on track by keeping me in the gym and my mind on nutrition.  It is all to easy for me to slack off going to the gym and even easier to turn back to poor eating habits.  But if I have to be at the gym to workout with clients and talk to them about nutrition, all the more reason for me to be accountable.

Earning a few dollars will be nice, but mainly I just want to do it as something to keep me busy and motivated.  Hopefully it does the trick!

And now, time to get my nose back into my text book.