Stray Dog Shoes Motive

Stray Dog Shoes Motive

Four Legged Friends And Fitness: The Rx That Saved My Life

Four Legged Friends and Fitness: The Rx that Saved My Life 

An inspirational biography/editorial by Katherine Renee Boland

 I work in the pharmaceutical industry, I know how much time and money is invested in marketing prescription drugs.  Whether it’s branded or generic, the pharmaceutical industry makes billions of dollars per year off of doctors signing away on their script pads.  Society is convinced that there is a synthetic cure for everything from back pain to Restless Legs Syndrome.  One of the most lucrative classes of medications being the antidepressants. 

Depression is looked upon as the foundation for several disease states including lack of sleep, and lowered immune system, therefore leading to even more reasons for a trip to the pharmacy.  That being said, I’d like to share my story of not only how being depressed changed my life, but more importantly how prescription drugs did NOT…

          When I was about 15 I became severely depressed.  The route cause of my depression still remains a mystery to this day.  Trying to explain why is a whole other subject manner, far too long and personal for me to attempt going into detail.

This depression led me into the terrible dark world of eating disorders.  You name it I tried it, anything and everything from starvation, throwing up, laxatives, excessive exercise; I tried it all just to lose weight.  And I did it on a daily basis for far too many years.

            Multiple hospital stays, psychotherapists, psychiatrists, and nutritionists accompanied by every antidepressant on the market were part of the attempt to nurse me back to health.  Unfortunately (or perhaps I should say fortunately) I owe none of my recovery to anyone or anything related to the field of medicine. 

            Finally one day I had a self-realization.  I stepped back outside of my own life, looking in as if I was the doctor trying to diagnose the helpless patient.  It almost makes me laugh, because I must have been asked thousands of times the exact same question (from friends, family, or professionals): “Why are you depressed?”  And every time I had the exact same answer: “I don’t know!”  Until one day I asked myself a very different question.  I had to think outside the box, see the glass as half full.

It sounds so simple, so trite, but I had to realize it for myself.  What makes me NOT feel depressed?  What do I love? What am I passionate about?  What is it that I live for?  The answer: (the title of my story) Four Legged Friends and Fitness: The Rx that Saved My Life

            From the time I was a young infant, animals and physical fitness became a part of my life.  For my very first Christmas my family was given a golden retriever puppy who immediately became my very best friend.  In fact the very first word I ever spoke was not mommy or daddy like most children; it was “Gog!” (For dog of course).  I was absolutely crazy about these “gogs”.  All of the neighborhood strays would always wind up in our backyard, including a pony who would escape from the stable down the road.   Animals seemed to like me, and I loved them.

By the time I learned to walk my mother had me in ballet shoes, and enrolled in ballet school.  She taught dance at the Stroud School of Dance in Stony Brook for over 25 years.  I danced about 3 times per week from the time I was 3 until I graduated high school.  Being in shape physically came naturally for me.  I had defined calve muscles, and perfect posture by the time I was in kindergarten.  But just dance alone did not satisfy me.  What I wanted more than anything in the world was to ride a horse.

My parents finally gave in and allowed me to start riding lessons when I was in the second grade.  I had discovered my true passion!  Nothing gives me more than a natural adrenaline high then taking a perfect jump.  Despite the myth that the horse does all the work, riding is actually an incredible physical workout as well.

            Needless to say, being so sick and rundown made it almost impossible for me to enjoy any of these activities that I cherished more than anything.  I could hardly make it thru a dance class without having to stop and sit on the floor.  I even stopped riding lessons completely.  Paxil, Zoloft, Prozac, etc… I tried it all.   I even stayed one on for several years.  Towards the end I began flushing them down the toilet just to fool my parents and the doctors.  Deep down inside I knew that with or without this medication, I still had the same thoughts.  I still lived inside this awful bubble, where the only thing that mattered to me was a number on a scale, as if the world around me would come to an end if I weighed an ounce over 90 pounds. 

            I cannot give an exact date or time as to when I woke up, and looked at myself from outside of this so called bubble.  It came as most things in life do, with time, life experience and maturity.  I realized that when I could not enjoy the things I loved most in life, I had nothing to live for.  So by giving myself back something to live for, I have lived!  And I’m glad to have lived to tell my story.  I hope it that it can be an inspiration to everyone else out there who may be going thru something similar.

            Today my most valuable time is spent riding my horse Tyler, playing with my dog Roxy or doing some sort of physical fitness.  My motivation to be successful in my career came from my long awaited childhood dream of owning my very own horse.  For over 5 years now I have worked (ironically!) in pharmaceutical sales.  Just to clarify, I do NOT sell anti-depressants!  This career enabled me to be able to fulfill my dream.  Three years ago I bought my horse Tyler as a Christmas gift to myself.  I deserved it, I knew I did.  I keep Tyler at a local stable in Islandia, where despite my busy schedule I ride about 3 times per week.  On the evenings that I’m not riding I attend kickboxing and step aerobics classes at World Gym in Setauket.  All of my time in between is spent playing with, cuddling and snuggling with my 9 month old Boston terrier.  I can never stay too upset or angry about anything after coming home and being greeted by Roxy with her huge blue eyes!  At night I don’t sleep as well if I have not exercised in some shape or form.  I can not stand the guilt that I will feel on a nice day if I have not gone riding or taken Roxy for a jog through Avalon Park.

Some people may call it an obsession, I call it my cure.

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