“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” George Bernard Shaw. I am here to share my life story about growing up in a tumultuous filled house, and having a rough life you can still change that and become out being a stronger and better you. Through life you need to let your past traumas go or you will not live a full happy life. These traumas will hold you back from achieving your dreams and lives goals.
I want to share my life and along with the trials and tribulations that I have endured, which has led me down the holistic lifestyle and learning Hypnosis. Growing up I had a rough life; My father was not around much. Since his career was in the Navy. So, my only full-blooded sister and I got to see him once a year for a month. I was always excited to see him when he came to town, but it was rough. Whenever he would come to town on a plane or just show up, I would get excited. The only problem was that anytime I went to my grandmother’s house who took my dad’s every other weekend, I would search the whole house. Always to be let down that he wasn’t there. my mother was off and on drugs my entire childhood and verbally abusive. She was re-married to a man that tried his best for us even though he didn’t have much to give. My only issue was when I would try to bring up issues and talk about how I felt him and my mother always thought I was arguing or trying to start a fight. So, of course even if what my mother was doing was wrong, she was his wife and he always sided with her which left me feeling unloved and almost abandoned. I was the middle of 3 children that were by my mother my older sister who was my only full-blooded sibling and then my half-sister, I also had three other siblings two stepbrothers and sister. So, we had a big family. I always felt like the odd one out and that no matter what I did I could not do anything right in my mother’s eyes. We struggled as a family, and I did not have the support that a child would need. I felt like I had no direction in my life and that I was at a loss of what I wanted to do with my life. I went through so many different ideas of careers I would love to do only to have something negative said to me. Like any of the careers I choose to try to pursue I was basically told by my mother I wasn’t smart enough, that I wouldn’t make enough money to survive, or that I have poor people skills and was not a nice person. This led me to have several mental illnesses, trust issues, and I really struggle to be open by disclosing everything because of my past traumas. I have struggled with PTSD, OCD, Anxiety, and Clinical depression from my childhood and then it got worse when I married my first husband who was physically, mentally, and sexually abusive. We had 2 boys together. When we divorced it was the first time I felt like I was able to breath again. I then met my husband now, who I have been with for fourteen years and married for almost eleven We had two children together a boy and a girl. Before we had biological children together, we did a step parent adoption. My ex had visitation rights but rarely used them, then one day he up and moved halfway around the country. He reached out and asked if my husband would be willing to adopt the boys. Which he gladly said yes and the youngest didn’t even know who his biological father was. So, he is fourteen and still has no idea. Which from how it sits right now he would not be able to hardly the truth because he has high functioning autism. I still struggle to this day, with my traumas, but I am a working on it and myself daily.
A few years ago, I finally took the initiative to get the much-needed help to heal and move past my life traumas. Through the process of therapy, meditation, and cutting out the negative people out of my life which is unfortunate. I have no contact with any of my family because as I became an adult I decided that I will not tolerate the abuse or negativity. I decided that I am going to work towards something that I am passionate about. I know it took me a long time to realize that I needed the help. I guess you could say that I was in denial that anything was mentally wrong with me. I never wanted the stigma of mental illness to rear it’s ugly head. After many years, which was the first year my now husband encouraged me to do I got some help. So, back in 2010 I was diagnosed with Anxiety and depression. I was given medication but of course like many people after taking it so long I thought I was all better. So, I stopped taking it. I know now how that was a very bad decision on my part because I didn’t have the full time support that I needed. At the time in the home was just the boys and myself since my husband and I had not been dating very long and I was very stand offish and scared to get hurt again.
When I lived in Florida for a few years there was a hypnotherapy school that was a few miles away from my house. I had never heard of hypnotherapy prior to seeing the school I was very interested and ended up doing a lot of research. Since I struggle with anxiety and OCD I constantly research things. When I start to get interested in something I become obsessed. That is all I will look at and talk about. I am sure that is very annoying for many people because they hear about it constantly. Though my persistence of research has helped me in many ways. One being going through the process of having gastric bypass surgery almost two years ago. I became obsessed with reading label’s and lost thirty pounds during the six month process for surgery. That is a lot more than most people lose considering most typically only lose ten pounds. I however did exactly as my body always does and would stop weight loss at thirty pounds. So, I was still well over two hundred pounds. I had surgery on May twenty fourth and within a year I was past my projected weight that the doctor said I would be at by twenty-five pounds. In total I went from two hundred and fifty-nine pounds (from the start of the journey) down to one hundred and twenty-five pounds. The success is from me become obsessed and all the research prior to choosing to get surgery and through the process of getting the surgery. This is just one of many things I have become obsessed with.
During this research obsession I fell in love with the whole process of holistic healing and hypnotherapy. The more I researched the more I seen how beneficial it can be. I am glad I am the type that likes research because prior to that I always seen hypnotherapy like they showed on television, stage hypnosis. Which I found out was completely different. Stage hypnosis Is just for show and it does not give you any benefits. It just makes you act differently and when you come back from that state you gain nothing in return from it other than probably feeling refreshed. Since when in a hypnotic state, you feel like you are resting and relaxing. After I found out that hypnotherapy was very different than stage hypnosis that’s when the obsession started. Although I did not pursue school until I found SWIHA. One because I never knew that you could learn this online, nor did I know of any places that I now live that offers this as a course. I live in the Midwest, and I do not know many people who are into the holistic healing. As matter of fact, I still only know a handful of people in person that are into holistic healing.
When was contacted by SWIHA I do not even remember signing up to learn about the school. I am sure I had to of but I suffer from short term memory issues. You can tell me something now and if you ask me about in ten to fifteen minutes I will know remember. So, when I got the call from the advisor I knew that it was fate. We talked that day about the different programs offered. I wanted to learn Hypnotherapy but while talking I found out that I could not become fully certified unless I took the healing arts practitioner program. The program has been amazing and I have learned so much and have the opportunity to meet some amazing people who have the same interests that I do. I love the program very much though I have found the business side of things are very difficult for me especially since I have a learning disability that I have had my whole life. I read slower and retain information differently than most. So what one person can read and understand by reading it one time. I do not have that ability. I must read and reread many things, and still have struggles with pronouncing words. Being able to do school online an not have the pressure to read things out loud to others, or felt like I am put on the spot when asked a question has been wonderful. I get the time to think and process before I answer questions or reply to people. I have the time to read and comprehend things because I am not rushed. This has helped me gain confidence and has helped me socialize more than I have in years because of my PTSD and agoraphobia.
I now am working on living a more happy and fulfilling life. I still have my issues and I am working on them daily, I also plan to get into some more cognitive therapy just to be able to learn how to express how I feel without getting upset or mad. Lately I have been trying to not get overwhelmed and take my time when doing things. Before I was always in a big rush, I never thought anything I did was right, nor did I ever have the confidence to self-advocate. I truly feel like my life calling is to be a Hypnotherapist and holistic healer. I have big ambitions and dreams which I never had before. I always thought negatively due to my past traumas. I cannot say that I am fully healed but like I have said many times I am not perfect, no one is, but I can say that through this process I have learned many tools that can help me and has helped me move past traumas. I feel that it is so powerful and so helpful that I just would like to help anyone and everyone who needs help and who would rather do things holistically. I am not saying that I am a doctor, nor can I diagnose anyone with any type of illness, but I can help relieve some of those traumas and “stressors” in your life. Hypnotherapy is just one of many things I would like to learn to become a top holistic healer in my area. After completing and gaining my certification for Hypnotherapy I would like to move on and learn more holistic approaches. For example, I plan on being a Reiki healer, I would like to learn more than the basics of aromatherapy and become an herbalist. I have big dreams and I feel like if you put your mind to it you can achieve it.
“Life is a mission, not a career. A career is a profession, a mission is a cause. A career asks, What’s in it for me? A mission asks, How can I make a difference?” Sean Covey. I have found my mission in life is to help people, be there when no one else is, and help heal holistically. I do not see this as a career or a profession but just as the quote said that a mission is how you can help others. I know that and I have seen that Hypnotherapy is a wonderful approach to help heal someone naturally.

Namaste
Brandi Logston
Gypsy Holistic Healing