Growing up in a small town in rural Minnesota, the epitome of social success was considered when one could be a multi-sport athlete, an honor roll student and the product of a comfortable, middle class family. I found myself far from any of these demographics as the eldest child of a single mother and a speech and theater geek, with a lack of motivation for school work(which as an adult I really believe was from a lack of being challenged). I found myself to be an outcast, often bullied for a variety of things that made me an easy target. When I graduated high school and took off for college, I never looked back, and found myself in St Cloud, Minnesota, a college town with a growing population of diversity.

After completing college with a degree in health science and beginning a full time career as a paramedic(a profession I still have), I was looking for a new purpose in life, something to do to fill the spaces in my life that school work and long clinical hours used to fill. I was single, after leaving a relationship that was quickly headed for a long term commitment to the comfort of mediocrity, a commitment that I was certainly not ready to make at 20 years old. I was looking for something bigger than myself, bigger than settling into a lifetime of being someone’s second wife, something that I could be proud of, something that made me feel powerful and most importantly, something to fill a desire for greatness that I had craved for as long as I could remember.

So on a warm afternoon in June 2016, I found myself in a rough part of town, taking a moment in my car to gather up all the courage and swagger I could muster, and walked into an MMA gym for my first kickboxing class. The rest is history. That was the day my “new life” began. The person I had been for the first 19 years of my life quickly transformed into someone new, Sam 2.0 if you will. And yes, it really DID happen that way.

Through this blog, I hope to share my journey with others. There have been many highs, and many lows, and in the interest of full disclosure, I’m taking a break from the fighting thing right now. However, I still challenge myself through CrossFit, and there’s still a lot for me to share about my personal development too. I hope you’ll enjoy the journey with me. Cheers!