On My Birthday, I Thank God for the Teachers Who Helped Me Keep Going
A birthday reflection on faith, education, healing, boundaries, and the purpose that grew from difficult seasons.
Today is my birthday, and once again it arrives alongside the beginning of a new school year. That rhythm feels familiar to me. Learning has always represented possibility—the belief that even after a painful chapter, God can open another page.
I do not want today to be only about receiving attention. I want it to be a day of gratitude: gratitude to God for preserving my life and soul, and gratitude to the educators, authors, mentors, and professional programs that helped me turn survival into a purpose-driven future in health coaching, life coaching, and nutrition support.
God, My First Teacher
Through seasons of trauma, loneliness, grief, manipulation, and the slow work of recognizing unhealthy patterns, God has been my rock. When I did not know what to do for myself, I could still sit quietly with Him. Those private moments gave me somewhere to breathe, cry, pray, and keep going.
I no longer believe that being loving requires giving everything away. Compassion needs wisdom. Empathy needs boundaries. Coaching needs structure. Sometimes the most loving response is not rescuing someone, but helping them recognize their own strength, choices, responsibilities, and next step.
Education gave language and structure to truths I was beginning to understand through faith. It helped me see that my painful experiences did not have to remain meaningless. They could deepen my listening, strengthen my discernment, and prepare me to serve without abandoning myself.
With Gratitude to Those Who Taught Me
I give credit to these people and institutions for my education.
My health and life coaching education includes the Health Coach Institute, the Mindbodygreen Institute, Certified Excellence in hormone health coaching, Prosper Nutrition, and the American Association of Natural Wellness Coaches and its board-certification pathway.
My functional nutrition and hormonal-health education includes the Functional Nutrition Alliance and Andrea Nakayama; Precision Nutrition Level 1; Mindbodygreen’s functional nutrition and Perimenopause+ education; Stanford University School of Medicine’s Introduction to Food and Health; the Gut & Digestion Health Results Accelerator with Dr. Stephen Cabral; and therapeutic-supplement education with Josh Gitalis.
My stress-resilience and mind–body education includes HeartMath training as a Stress and Well-Being Assessment Provider and Building Personal Resilience Coach; psychoneuroimmunology and the mind–body–immune connection; and trauma-informed coaching and counseling education with Trey Malicoat.
My environmental and integrative-wellness studies include the Hayamson Institute of Natural and Complementary Medicine; foundation education in homeopathy and homeopathic medicine; aromatherapy and essential-oil education; peptide, injection, and IV education; Alzheimer’s Association essentiALZ training; Certified Postural Neurology (CPN); and Talking Toxins with Lara Adler.
My formal education also includes an associate degree in Business Management Technology from Kent State University, with concentrations in management, entrepreneurship, and manufacturing. Those studies continue to help me build Elevated Wellness Me responsibly and teach future coaches to think not only about compassionate care, but also about ethical, sustainable practice.
I am thankful for every instructor, program designer, researcher, writer, and mentor who shared knowledge with me. At the same time, God will always remain my first and greatest instructor—the One who helped me understand why the knowledge mattered.
The Writers Who Helped Lead My Journey
Books have also been quiet companions. Some arrived exactly the season when I needed them. Susan Cain’s Quiet helped affirm the strength of introversion and thoughtful presence. Matthew Pollard’s The Introvert’s Edge offered practical encouragement for building a meaningful professional life without pretending to be someone louder. C. G. Jung’s The Red Book: Liber Novus invited deeper reflection on the inner world, symbolism, and the parts of ourselves that can be difficult to understand.
Other writers and thinkers whose work has contributed to my continuing study include Nicholas J. Gonzalez, M.D.; neurologist David Perlmutter, M.D.; George Ohsawa; and Doug A. Kaufmann, author of The Fungus Link. Their writings encouraged me to keep asking questions about nutrition, metabolism, the gut, lifestyle, environment, and whole-person wellness. I approach these works as part of an ongoing education—not as unquestioned authority or a substitute for current evidence, individualized medical care, or appropriately qualified professionals. There are many more teachers and authors than I could name in one article, and I remain grateful for every responsible source that has challenged me to think, examine evidence, and continue learning.
No single writer holds every answer. But good books give us questions, language, perspective, and a place to begin. I am grateful to the people who were willing to write what they had learned so someone like me could keep learning too.
From Pain Toward Purpose
My past shaped my empathy, but it does not have to control my future. I am learning that I can care deeply without being endlessly available. I can be generous without becoming responsible for everyone else’s choices. I can listen without absorbing another person’s entire burden. I can forgive while still maintaining a boundary.
That is also part of becoming a better coach.
A coach is not meant to become a client’s rescuer, physician, financial provider, or sole source of strength. A coach can offer presence, education, reflection, accountability, and a safe structure for change. The client remains the author of their choices.
This healthier understanding protects both the client and the coach. It allows kindness to become sustainable rather than self-erasing.
What I Hope to Give Forward
Elevated Wellness Me grew from a desire to help people feel heard, organize their questions, understand their patterns, and build realistic habits with compassion. It also grew from a belief that learning should lead to service.
My Health Coach Certification Course is one way I am giving that education forward. It is designed to help future coaches develop evidence literacy, ethical boundaries, whole-person thinking, client-centered communication, responsible referral habits, and practical tools for supporting sustainable change.
You can review my education and credentials here:
https://elevatedwellness.me/education-credentials
You can explore the self-paced Health Coach Certification Course here:
https://course.elevatedwellness.me/
The course is educational purposes and establishes a certification through AANWC.
A Birthday Prayer
Today, I thank God for keeping me afloat when I felt shattered. I thank Him for the educators who gave me tools, the writers who gave me language, and the mentors who helped point me toward a future I could not always see.
I am still learning how to love myself enough to recognize what is not okay. I am still learning that a boundary is not a failure of love. I am still learning that rest does not make me selfish, and that my value is not measured by how much of myself I can give away.
I do not have to be completely unbroken to have purpose. God can work through a life that has been wounded, restored, instructed, and refined. He can turn survival into discernment, quietness into presence, and education into service.
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” — Proverbs 9:10
On this birthday, I do not ask to understand everything that has happened. I ask for enough wisdom to take the next faithful step, enough courage to protect the life God preserved, and enough grace to serve others without losing myself.
With gratitude,
Ashley Lynn Angeli, CFNC, CHC
Founder and CEO, Elevated Wellness Me
Educational note: This personal reflection shares lived experience and general coaching education. It is not medical, mental-health, legal, or financial advice.
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