The path to how I became a naturopathic doctor is unclear. I had never heard the term growing up. "Organic" and "gluten free" were not common words found in the grocery store. Herbs were for cooking, except for the occasional use of aloe for burns. Now, I had never felt comfortable with conventional medicine and the current system of healthcare, but was unable to articulate just what I thought was missing. It wasn't until I was in college applying for medical school that I learned the term "naturopathic." I researched the field and the more I learned, the more determined I was that this was the path for me.
Looking back, it seems that even though I had never heard the term "naturopathic" growing up, the meaning behind the term was familiar to me. The sense of connection to the earth and the world around me had been with me since I was a child. It was part of the reason that I fell in love with the poetry of Walt Whitman, when I discovered him in high school. The quote below is one beautiful illustration as to how Whitman helped shaped my philosophy of life and helped prepare me to be a naturopathic doctor:
"This is what you shall do: Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re‑examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body . . . " (Walt Whitman, 1855 Preface to Leaves of Grass)
RSS Feed
