My son Jordan turns 24-years-old this week. Many of you who have regularly read my columns know that he is a miracle child and overcame great adversity when he survived a terrible motorcycle accident that put him in a coma, leaving him with a Traumatic Brain Injury when he was 14-years-old. He is a true survivor and has overcome great odds in life. I’m happy to say he is healthy and living back up in Wisconsin, getting ready to return to college this August to work on a degree. I am incredibly proud of him and yet still always incredibly worried about him. But that’s my job, I’m a mother.
When I think about overcoming odds, I often think how ironic it is that I do the work that I do, helping other people to make positive changes in their lives. Actually, it’s not ironic as much as it’s exactly the path that was put before me. I think most people who end up in any leadership role, or in any helping profession, have had to overcome some adversity in their lives, it’s what builds us as leaders. It’s what gives us experience and wisdom to help others and to encourage people along the way. I had a shaky home-life as a child, as people used to call it, a “broken home,” but these days, coming from a family of divorce or dysfunction seems to be more of the norm, and having parents that are married and stay married (and are actually happily married), is the more unusual situation.
As I grew up, I lived in foster homes as a teenager, on and off, and moved out when I was sixteen years old. I worked evenings and went to high school during the day. I was a year ahead in my class and was the youngest senior at the age of sixteen. I worked nights at a truck stop and drove to school in the mornings in my ratty old Chevette that had holes in the floor that would splash up on my passengers if it rained the day before. Eventually I dropped out of high school because I was too tired to stay awake in algebra class and was often falling asleep on my desk. I moved to Montana and became pregnant at the age of seventeen. I decided at that time to move back to Wisconsin, where I was from, to have my son. I finished my High School diploma, taking tests while I was pregnant and finishing with him by my side in his baby carrier.
When Jordan was two, we were very poor, but I was able to get accepted into college and began going to the university during the day and working at UPS loading trucks in the evenings and cocktail waitressing on the weekends. Later I was able to go to college full-time on the weekends and work a better day job during the week. I built a house on my own at the age of 29 and raised Jordan there until he was through with high school and into college.
I finished both an undergraduate and master’s degree in the weekend program at the College of St. Catherine and I attended law school, working toward a dual degree until Jordan had his accident. At that time I took a year off from school during his recovery, but went back to complete my graduate program. I taught yoga and fitness as a part-time job around my full-time work and I raised Jordan. Over the years we have both been through many trying times, many big changes.
When Jordan was 21, he had been in college for a while and I decided to put my house up for sale, pack up a 20 foot U-haul and my 100 pound dog, and I headed to Texas, ready for a change in my life with nothing more than a wing and a prayer. There’s a lot more to my path to becoming a wellness professional, but I am grateful every day to get to do the work that I do and even for the experiences that I have gone through that were difficult at the time because I hope that I can be an example to others that they can achieve their goals and can overcome the odds that may seem to be stacked against them.
Liz Jones is the Wellness Coordinator for the City of Mesquite and a wellness professional in Rockwall, Mesquite, Wylie and surrounding areas. She is a writer, certified yoga instructor, personal trainer and wellness coach. She holds a Master’s Degree in Organizational Leadership and Strategic Management, with a graduate certificate in Ethics and Leadership. Her undergraduate studies included communication, business, writing, art, fitness, and dance. Liz Jones can be reached at: [email protected].