ABOUT

I'm Alexis, born and raised in Southern California in Los Angeles County. I graduated with my Masters in Occupational Therapy in 2011 and started practicing as a traveling Occupational Therapist (OT) in Northern California.  Twelve cities, seven placements, five settings and over 1,000 miles round trip if you were to connect the dots from place to place.

jumping photos are way more fun with great backdrops
[photo reminds me of how good it felt to be active
(China Flats Trail Oak Park, CA 2014)]

A year and a half in, while living in the city of San Francisco, I met my boyfriend (also from So Cal and a history for our adventure is for another time).  Today, we're enjoying the bay area and staying active!

After a good long hall in the OT travel realm...packing and unpacking in short time frames, my Kitty getting older and needing more TLC (yes she was my travel companion all throughout), long commutes for me and the BF, and most importantly, my goal of gaining ample experience in the field of OT was achieved... I decided it was time for me to settle down in the Bay Area.

Since January, I've been working at the local non-profit hospital, continuing to practice Occupational Therapy, also known as my passion in life.  I get to wake up and do what I love most (on the daily), helping guide others through their barriers to reach their goals that affect their ability to participate in their  most meaningful day to day activities.  Life is the best when what you do for a living is what  you love and when you love what you do, it is not work :).

kayaking 26 miles down the Sacramento River
from Corning, CA
...damn were my arms tired and it was my first time,
EVER! #gorgeous (May 2014, Chico, CA)

But I started to feel the weight of long hours....10...12...13...computer work, barely holding my head up, neck and shoulder pains, living off many cups of coffee, headaches, fatigue....it wasn't my job tearing me apart, it was my body falling apart and feeling just fatigued all the time!  What was going on? Weight gain over 15 pounds in 3 months, could not catch up on the zzz's, NEVER could get myself to workout because I needed a nap or I felt too heavy to deal with it.

A recent goal of mine (when I started this blog journey) was regaining my health back so I can get back to several of my dreams for my profession.  I had been diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis back in 2002 and with ups and downs of being on the right combination of medications, vitamins, B12 shots, change in diet and reducing stress to a minimum, I did have my UC under control and remained in remission for quite some time ( maybe only a handful of flares in 13 years?) ...however, the last few months of traveling and moving from traveler to permanent employee have not been the best on my health, including fatigue/very very low energy, headaches, lack of sleep, poor diet due to the low energy to prepare meals...the cycle of exhaustion just got worse and worse and worse and I felt paralyzed.  I was not able to make it to the gym, let alone through a full workout on my own at the gym in this condition...

So I decided to sign up for an On Demand type workout with programs to work out on my own time and I set a goal for myself to just move to the best of my ability.  It was appealing to me because I could do it in the privacy of my own home, on my own time and feel my own frustrations come out without others telling me how to feel or what to do to "make it right"

... I also added a nutritional supplements beverage to my meal routine daily, to get my body's insides to match the body's outside (I especially had a hard time getting the right balance of nutrients my body needs) as what goes in, typically gets depleted of from the immunosuppressant medications I take to maintain a state of remission from UC (where you tend to have malabsorption difficulty with the disease so your body does not really receive the vitamins, and minerals you put in, it just passes through, even if you are feeling healthy).

My mentor, my coach, my dear friend Dee(to the left)!
We're allowing our wings to let us soar, with no boundaries,
no obstacles, just determination and motivation steering the flight

In just these two changes and the support of one of my very good friends of many, many years, I gained (not weight) so much more than expected...I've only been on this journey since April 2015 and I have felt extremely happy with my results thus far.  I could not keep this all to myself... I had to share it with the world and help others through their journeys in well being, whether they want to maintain healthy lifestyle or go beyond just barely coping with disease and all it's side affects. UPDATE: see FEATURED TAB
(ALWAYS EVOLVING):

.

Now, since regaining my energy, I have done a few things in the past few months towards shooting for my dreams (still a work in progress, but what is isn't???)...these include:

LIVE VIDEO APPLICATION to provide the community and clients:
*Inspiration and motivation
*lifestyle management and redesign to achieve mental, emotional, cognitive, physical capacity to increase access to your most meaningful occupations of life

Periscope application on iPhone or Android at Periscope handle: @alexisjoelle      Twitter handle: @8alexisjoelle

 Ongoing evolution of physical, mental and spiritual ability creates promotion and empowerment to those who wish to seek access to their most meaningful occupations of life

Follow on instagram or facebook: colonarydelights

I hope you enjoy Colonary Delights and my Periscope OT scope and  UC wellness Scope broadcasts as much as I enjoy helping others with reaching their goals: whether gaining/regaining meaningful day to day occupations or striving to establish health goals or spreading inspiration, I'm happy to help you through to attain them!