So you might be wondering? Just who is the Nomad at the Nomad Apothecary and how did that business name come into being? Well, lets find out shall we? The Nomad in the Apothecary is Shannon. That's me folkx! I am a bisexual mother, wife, herbalist, nurse, and intuitive healer. Oh and on top of all that, I also have ADHD, which I wasn't diagnosed with till I was 35! Whew. When I write that all out, it sounds like I never have time to sleep! (Slight spoiler alert: I don't!) The biggest chunk of my life is taken up with my children. I am the biological mother to one amazing daughter and the lucky bonus mom to 3 awesome bonus kids (2 boys and a girl). I adore the life I have with them, even if it does get crazy sometimes. All my children are neurodiverse (like me!) so I use many of the treatments I would recommend to you for them and myself and see in action every day just how much they can help and how much good they do. If you saw my disclaimer HERE about being a safe spot for LGBTQ+ individuals and POC, you are probably no longer wondering why. I am a very out and open bisexual woman. My biological daughter is Black and my bonus daughter is, in her words, Gay as Fuck! I strive to make sure everyone is treated with equity here and I do not discriminate against anyone for any reason. The next biggest chunk of my life is my husband. You can find a picture of him and I from our wedding on the About page. I was a single mom basically from the time my daughter was born due to some crazy circumstances. Domestic violence is a very real thing here in the US and it is awful how many individuals suffer from it. I was lucky in my being able to get away safely. (If you need to leave a bad situation please reach out to the Domestic Violence Hotline: 800.799.SAFE (7233)). The next part of my life that used to take up probably more time than my children and husband combined, was nursing. I was a nurse for 15 years! Omg. when I say that out loud, I feel old suddenly. I went into nursing school straight out of high school and started practicing when I was a fresh-faced, innocent 23 year old. Now I'm just a hardened, grizzly RN over here and nothing phases me! (except for death. Still haven't ever gotten used to that one. And I'm glad.) I started off as an orthopedic nurse and ended my career being a GI nurse. I absolutely love helping people and this is what led me to strike out on my own and find a way to be able to holistically help individuals achieve optimal health. I definitely learned a lot being a nurse, but the biggest thing I saw was the fact that almost everything was symptom management. There wasn't much searching for the root cause and truly fixing a health concern or disease. With my Herbalist degree, I can do that. I can get to the root cause for whatever ails you and we can work together to lead you back to optimal health. There are some things that still won't be 100% fixed by herbs though and we do need to recognize our limits. Autoimmune diseases will not be cured, but herbs can certainly help you live a more full life and give you many more years of it being under control. Alright, enough sappiness. I am sure you get just how much I truly want to fucking help people by this point. The next burning question I know y’all have is “How in the hell did you come up with the name?” Well, after many years of living the “American dream”, (which is really more a nightmare anymore) my husband and I were very tired of being rats in the rat race. We hardly saw our children, we hardly saw each other, and we were living in a house that was making us all miserable with the crazy amount we spent each month to keep a roof over our heads. Fuck that. So we got talking and decided that we were done. We weren't going to be compliant little rats in the race anymore. We veered off the track. We decided to sell our house, buy an RV, and live tiny. We were going minimalist! We wanted to be able to give our kids experiences in life, travel and learn about new cultures, see things even we had never seen. We couldn't do that while hemorrhaging money each month trying to survive. So we listed our house. It sold in just under 30 days and 30 days after that was closing. We sold off basically everything big in our house and with 2 weeks left to go before closing we moved into the RV we had purchased. Before any of y’all get to thinking we are just the world’s worst parents over here, we did discuss this all with the kids before just pulling the trigger and jumping into it. They loved the idea and said as long as they could keep their animals, they were in. (Well of course we were keeping the animals. They are family too!) We stayed stationary for 5 months and maintained our jobs. Despite still working crazy hours we felt like we had MORE. More time with the kids, More money to go see and do things in our own town we never had, more laughing and bonding as we became very close living in small quarters. Then the biggest blow came, my husband was hit with a layoff. His company laid off 4500 people and he was on that list. Fuck. Now what? My nursing job wasn't paying enough to pay all the bills and we had to do something quick. Once upon a time before kids and responsibilities, I had been a travel nurse. Just me and my dog. (That we still have. Shes 13 now!) So I called my old company up and they were ecstatic to have me back and we quickly transitioned into that and hit the road. We have been traveling ever since because right when we thought we might take a break, COVID hit, and I was called upon to go assist a hospital with their response. And let me tell ya. Nursing is hard, always. You give your heart and soul and everything to patients and you come home depleted. Mentally, emotionally, physically. COVID nursing, though, is something else entirely. BURNOUT city! I hit a wall and just couldn't continue. During all this my husband still wasn't able to find a job in the field he had been in for the last 20 years, so he switched gears, went back to school, and started his own business. So while I was working 5 million hours at the hospital (ok, maybe a light exaggeration), he was building a business from the ground up. When burnout hit me hard, we had a discussion. I had been feeling a pull to get back into my herbalist business (I had originally started one in 2013. And ran it till the end of 2014. Jan 2015 blew the lid off of everything and I had to close it) We discussed me doing so and leaving nursing for good. I was D.O.N.E. I had been in school doing some more education for my Herbalism. I completed the Master Herbalist degree in November 2020 with distinction (it is a UK based school, so that is their version of “with honors”), as I achieved a 97% overall. In January of 2021, I finished my Advanced Master Herbalist degree with a 99% overall grade. (I was crazy and doing two programs at once.)
Which I was super proud of myself for doing while working as a nurse during COVID. Totally kicked ass. When that was finished, I launched the Nomad Apothecary. I had originally attempted to do so back at the end of 2019, but didn't get far with it because COVID. So SUPER long story short, due to my nomadic nature and the fact that we live in an RV full time (with our children, 2 dogs, and a parrot named Kiwi, by the way) I decided that I wanted a name that reflected that. And an apothecary seemed fitting because back in the day pharmacy’s were called apothecary’s because the owners compounded all their own medicines and remedies and that is what I do as well. And ta-da! Here we are! We got ourselves a different RV now and are bringing the healing to you! If you are unsure what exactly a herbalist does, read my post HERE about that. Well that's me in a nutshell (a very big nutshell honestly. I talk A LOT!). I hope this gave you some more insight to who is behind all the social media posts and items you see listed. There is an actual real live, small business owner, just ready to explode with helpfulness and get everyone back to feeling their best. I love to hear from all my followers and clients, so please leave a comment about something that you feel is very unique to you. I want to hear all about the awesomeness that y’all have! Blessed be, Shannon
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AuthorShannon, master herbalist, shares her thoughts, educational information, and more. Archives
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