Story of: Tina Potter -The Healer Snook

I grew up very sickly as a child. I was almost always sick with a fever or some other illness and missed much school because of it. I spent most of my time indoors, playing piano or reading books. ÂMy grandmother funded my lessons and my mother made sure that I practiced daily. Â In the church that I grew up in, you were given few career options as a woman: go to college for your MRSÂ degree (marriage), Â be a secretary, teacher, or pianist. Â Everyone expected me to go college for piano.

Then one day, when I was about 13, my family left that church and its school. It was a shock to me as it was all I ever known and I felt completely lost. I didn't have any friends outside the church, so it was just me and my sister. We started homeschooling, which was hard at the beginning in its own right. The opportunities in it were soon realized, however. Now, sick days weren't such a problem and I could play piano, read, or write as I liked as long as school work was finished prior. My health did improve, however, as a severe case of mono and strep that ended in an emergency tonsillectomy. My immune system seemed to finally kick in after that.

My parents were eager to find another church, and soon found one for us to attend. It was a southern baptist church on the southside of Columbus.  The church held what they called a home school of bluegrass, where the community could come together and learn various instruments that ranged from the guitar to the banjo. Once a month, they held a jam session where we would come together and play. It was a lot of fun for all ages, and I was asked to teach piano. So with that, I started teaching at the age of 16.

I continued living a life focused on music, but my lessons had stopped as my teacher was at the church we had left. So I became self taught from there as I also taught others. Lessons for my students would have to end as well, however, as word that we were moving came from my parents.

We were going through bankruptcy and my father was promised a job in Kentucky. We moved to Greenup, Kentucky in October of 2011.

I had played in almost every church we had visited by then and had a hymnal from each to show for it. It was like they could sniff out that I was a pianist, or one of my parents would let it slip out. I didn't mind too much, though, as I expected that it was what I was meant to do in life.

By the time that I was a senior in high school, my parents could no longer afford to homeschool us. My sister and I then started attending Greenup County High School.

We started wearing pants, over-sized capris at first and then skinny jeans as time went on. It was uncomfortable in the beginning. I stood still in my faith, but wasn't sure what God was doing in my life.

I played piano for school choir occasionally and had mostly music related classes. As college time drew near, my parents warned me that they couldn't pay for my education (not that they didn't

want to) and that I should do some soul searching. Why would I need to do that, though? I was practicing four hours a day at that point and was working on my audition pieces for Berea College. I had made up my mind: I was going to college for music. There was no soul searching needed.

Or so I thought...

Then one day I called Berea and found out that I had to be down there that weekend in order to

make it for auditions. I couldn't do it, there was no way to get me there. No one at that school had seen

me cry before but they did that day. My teachers were worried and so were a few of my peers. They

found me the band director to counsel me on developing a different plan with a different school.

Everyone kept pushing me to go to straight into college after graduation. I was embarrassed and

ashamed for some reason.

Against everyone but my parents wishes, I decided to simply use the summer after graduating for soul searching. I still felt like music was my calling, however. How could it not be? It was all I'd ever known. I applied for a position at a daycare as a teacher and received it. It was my first non-piano related job, though I had also started teaching piano again on the side. After working in church nurseries and my mom having done foster care babysitting for years, daycare felt quite appropriate for me. I knew it wasn't what I was meant to do, though. I felt anxious about not knowing what I should do to achieve my goal as a musician.

Then one afternoon, mom and I were talking about peppermint for uterus cramps. Now, my

mom is no herbalist and didn't know much about plant medicine at the time, but she knew some things

and was the type of mom to toss you a peppermint stick when you're having period pain. She didn't like having any reliance on medications unless I was severely ill, which was quite often as a child.

Thinking back on that, I appreciate that. She taught me willpower, and I developed a prepared way of

thinking: one day, you might not have access to medications, then what?

Then it hit me, and I stopped weeding the garden as the words came out of my mouth.

I'm going to be a herbalist.

Mom was shocked. I was shocked. I couldn't believe what I had just said, either. Did herbalists even exist anymore? Where do I even go to school for that? Where did I even come up with this? You find Pinterest tutorials for oil blends and salves, but I wanted to know the science behind the healing and to what extent an herbalist could even do.

After searching for a few weeks, I finally found a college that offered what I wanted: The American College of Healthcare Sciences in Portland, Oregon. I applied for an online degree program and was accepted. We were all still in shock, as I showed no signs of interest any type of medical field prior. I now understand it, though.

My background might have been mostly music, but health was also important to me. Fighting through a sickly childhood, my mom never fed me from a box and on the rare occasion I made myself go outside I enjoyed it. A lot of my writing was nature influenced and I feel that the few remedies my mom used influenced my decision as well.

Surprisingly, it was always about the herbs and the piano was meant to be the outside hustle, not

the main focus.I dove right into my studies, absorbing as much as possible. I really enjoyed them, and I searched for herbals at flea markets and tried to identify what few plants I could on my hikes. I played piano less and less each day and put a hold on teaching.

What is an herbalist's place in the world, though? Where do they apply for a job? Or do they still trade chickens for remedies like country doctors did? That last part was a joke...

It was 2015, and I had been in college for a few years. I could technically already call myselfan herbalist. I was still working on my associates of Applied Science in Complementary Alternative Medicine. I figured I would graduate and open a retail store to sell other companies herbal products. I started selling Nature's Sunshine products on a Facebook page I titled The Healer's Nook. I would also consult with people and fix odd and end remedies for them. Â Between working full time at a daycare,

being in college, and starting a business, I'd stay up 'till 1:30 am on an order just to go to bed and wake

up at 5:00 am the same morning. I still wasn't sure what type of herbalist I would be.

A coworker at the daycare came to me for a friend of hers. He was having some flu-like symptoms and wanted natural relief. She gave me his number and I meant to message him later that day. It was 10:30 pm when I realized, looking up from my school work, that I still hadn't messaged him. Surely it was too late in the day to do so, I figured. It wasn't five minutes later when he messaged me himself. After consulting with him for a while, we both came to the conclusion that his sinus issues and aches came from leaving the window open at night while it was still mid-December and the night air had done a number on him, causing lack of sleep and other issues. I suggested he visit a doctor is he felt further analysis was needed and he bought a bottle of Lavender essential oil off of me.

I threw in a bag of horehound tea for his throat and we talked more.

That is how I came to know my husband. Ryan and I didn't stop talking after that. We found

that we both desired the simple, rugged life of living in a cabin and using herbs and a proper diet to

support good health.

We went on dates to the cabin that our friend that I worked with lived in with her boyfriend that was also named Ryan. He suggested I sell my own products, not others for retail. He had every bit of faith in me that my parents did, and helped me set up my Etsy shop. Soon after that, I received my first online order. My fellow Etsy sellers know that blessed sound the notification makes:cha-ching!

It was soon after that Ryan proposed to me. His hands shook with nerves as he presented the

rings he made our of our birth stones and birth woods to my dad (who was quite impressed). It was

April and I told Ryan that I was tired of waiting, even though we had met in December. I told him I

would live in a tent with him if I had to. Ryan didn't believe me at first, then he came to realize I wasn't

joking. I returned to work 10 minutes late from my lunch break the next day, a married woman.

We lived in the tent for two months. It rained mostly, and was so cold some nights that I not even our body heat was really doing the trick. Ryan did his best to make everything as comfortable as

possible, but we weren't really meant to live in comfort I figured. Our tent sat on tent foam placed on

wood palettes that kept us from being directly on the ground. We slept on an air mattress, and had

a large screen tent for our kitchen are that contained to camp stove and all the food. I washed our

clothes in the creek and hung them on the line and boiled our water for bathing in the wash tubs.

It was our own paradise, that little secluded hollow on my parent's property. I blogged about it and the

first post reached 2,000 people over night, though I think my husband sitting bare cheeked in a washtub

had much to do with it.

The Nook, a poorly built shack of a building we were given, was soon moved in place of where

the tent stood. My father-in-law was turning it into a cabin of our own. Â It was going to be a sort of tiny

house, just right for us. I wanted to keep with the theme of living without electricity, many just don't

realize how peaceful it is. As the construction of the Nook progressed, we lived in between my family

and in-law's homes. I felt like my stuff was spread everywhere, but paradise did not last.

You see, 2017 came with its hardships, as it did for many I'm sure. As I grew stronger in my

abilities as an herbalist, I found that my husband may be the project I never finish. A few months

before I met my husband, he was involved in a car accident. He was diagnosed with a concussion and

a herniated disc, among other problems.

Headaches are a regular occurance for him, cognitive problems such as dizziness and trouble focusing, and he hardly ever gets a decent night's rest. Back pain from the herniated disc causes problems for many daily activities and his chiropractor listed a number of spinal irregularities. I give him teas, try to do things on him that the physical therapists and other doctors suggest. His appointments fill our schedules and adds to the business of our life together. I wouldn't trade him for the world, though.

As my husband's health was something I daily worried over, though he didn't want me to, I also went through a chemical pregnancy. It was a dark time because even though my husband and many of my family and in-laws supported me, there was family that didn't show much support. Instead, they suggested that they assumed I would simply lose the child anyways as many other women in our family had lost their first born. You don't tell someone in that state of mind something like that. The doctors ]were calling it a chemical pregnancy due to that it was so early they couldn't confirm that there wasn't a baby lost. The person that was so negative only showed more and more negativity after that, and for the first time in my life I had to decide to walk away from their negativity and figure out how to heal without guidance.

Work stopped on the Nook. The shop's orders slowed down that summer, though I tried so hard to keep positive I started feeling dread. School dragged on and there was no sign of Ryan healing either.

With so much lost, God also gave so much more. I found a peace I didn't realize I had never known as I was starting fresh. Ryan and I found a camper and moved it onto his family's property.

Orders picked back up and I hosted my first workshop: Herbs for Stress Management. I made many connections with the wonderful people that showed up. I also found people that had heard of me from clients that God let me help previously. By the end of 2017, I can save I received so much more than i had lost. My life just needed purging and direction.

It is now 2018, and I have forgiven but not forgotten and have learned from past mistakes. With

new goals and a fresh start, I plan on making this the best year yet. Â I will graduate this year and hold the title of master herbalist and holistic health practitioner. I will host two more workshops, and will release online courses.

The debut of The Healer's Nook's Apothecary Subscription Box will be this spring, and I also plan on inviting people on hikes for identifying plants and wildcrafting. As a runner, I hope to run my first ultra marathon in November, the 50 mile trail race in the Shawnee State forest.

Looking back at that sickly girl behind a piano, I never thought I would be where I am today. Â IÂ feel like anything can be possible now. God knew that I was and still am meant for more. One day, Ryan and I may live in the Nook again but with children of our own and I will teach them who The Healer in The Healer's Nook is. No, The Healer isn't me, but the God that took that sick little girl and

made her into the herbalist she is today.

That's my Story.

website: https://www.atthehealersnook.com

instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thehealersnook/?hl=en