…at least 15 per hour, probably more. After all, it is 2023 with absolute insanity going on in the world. FYI – I’m mad as hell and I’m taking back purple, fairies, rainbows, owls, white rabbits, the OK hand symbol, and all of the rest of my favorite things that I can’t think of right now that have been absconded from humanity-at-large. Oh, yeah – and most importantly – FREEDOM! Thank you for letting me rant a little bit.
If you’re curious about me, Leila Rhoden, MA and my personal history, I was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, and am now nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in northwest Georgia, USA. (And I’m very proud to have Marjorie Taylor Greene as my congresswoman.)
After a long hiatus from college (approximately 15 years or so), I returned to the University of West Georgia and finished my Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in humanistic psychology and a minor in philosophy.
Not wanting to leave the joys of scholastic life so soon, I signed my life away and completed not one, but two masters degrees – one in humanistic psychology with an emphasis in counseling, and the other in gerontology (the study of the social aspect of aging).
My focus in gerontology was ‘optimal aging,’ and there was a sort of self-serving aspect in that as I was a lot closer to retirement age than not.
Also, I had studied health and nutrition, alternative healing modalities, herbal medicine, owned and managed health food stores, and practiced Foot Reflexology throughout the years before returning to school, therefore, it was the natural way for me to proceed.
After working several years in community mental health and in the private sector as Resident Services Director at an assisted living facility, I experienced early career burnout.
For the past few years, I feel as if I have been incubating in a self-created cocoon of sorts–licking my wounds, exploring aspects of myself that needed attention and healing – all while working very hard doing a physically demanding job (which has probably been the best thing for me), in order to support myself.
Fortunately, when working I can listen to audio books and other programming that has reconnected me with my passion of studying alternative healing, health and nutritional subjects. I also have been revisiting much of the literature pertaining to spirituality and self-development that profoundly affected my positive growth into adulthood and maturity.
As a result of that, I began compiling important and meaningful information pertaining to natural health and optimal aging into a website for the purpose of informing and assisting those who are making the conscious choice to age healthy. The first site is Exceptional Aging.com which morphed into another site – a huge, comprehensive membership community which will be launching in the near future.
As I was exploring ways to implement an internet presence in order to share my experience and knowledge of healthy aging, I discovered a creative outlet in designing and building websites which I am extremely enjoying. Can you tell? This has turned out to be a most personally rewarding hobby and avocation.
However, at heart, I am first a student/teacher of life and I want to help as many people as I can who are choosing to age exceptionally – meaning out-of-the-ordinary (meaning much better – not perfect) as to what has been accepted as “normal” aging. I absolutely love publishing top quality information on topics that I am interested in, practice, and reflect different aspects of my life – most all of which I freely share within all of the websites I create.
