We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jacy Kirby a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Jacy thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.

I have always struggled with self confidence. From the time I can remember, younger than school age, I never felt like I belonged. I always saw myself as someone who fit in only if he camouflaged himself to mesh with the rest of the world around me. In large part because of this, in high school I began to rely on food for emotional support. I did my best to stuff my lack of confidence full with food. This quickly developed into a binge eating disorder in which I lost myself completely. This other voice inside of me carried into my professional career, always taunting me with reasons not to work, not to try, because it did its best to convince me I would fail. In successfully doing so, my binge eating disorder had me all to itself. Massive waves of depressions and self isolation would follow for days and weeks at a time. It prevented me from truly living my life, and more so, prevented me from fulfilling my passions.

I speak about my trials and tribulations of self diatribe because it was finding a large piece of my recovery through writing and health and wellness that allowed me to really begin to flourish. in 2017, I got certified as a personal trainer and began to help clients with their own weight loss and behavioral struggles. I also began to take my writing- a lifelong passion- more seriously, with the goal of eventually publishing a book.

In 2023, after several more years of many trials and even more triumphs- as self growth is never linear- I did in fact publish my first book of poetry, “To My Eating Disorder” on Amazon in paperback and ebook. This was a momentous accomplishment for myself, as several years prior it was only a dream, and I was not sure if I’d ever actualize it, let alone live to see my 20’s. This helped propel my recovery even further, and in February of this year, 2024, I published my second book of poetry on Amazon, “For Heartbreaks & Soulmates.”

The most defining moment in my career has been my ability to persevere through the negative self talk that used to run rampant in my brain. The ability to grow and blossom where I have bled, for me, is more defining than any promotion or salary raise.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

As previously mentioned, I originally got into personal training through my 0wn struggles with weight and mental health. I fell in love with fitness, and I found it to be a gateway to being able to relate, empathize, and aid others in their in own journey through not just health and wellness, but self growth as a whole. I have always loved psychology and why people do the things they do; why they think about things the way they think about them. Personal training was just the start. I eventually got certified as a nutrition coach and a sports nutrition coach. Later, I received my Master’s Life Coach certification which focuses is centered around cognitive behavioral, which, among other things, is to help better one’s self talk. Along with training in a brick and mortar gym, I now also have my own online nutrition and life coaching business, “Kirby’s Nutrition Kitchen.”

I got into writing in large part through my grandmother who used to lay in bed and tell me all kinds of different Twilight Zone-esque stories. I love all genres of literature though. My favorites to write are mental health, romance, horror, and psychological. I find that I can disappear into whatever I am writing and become something more than myself. I find that to be true with any passion; it allows you to be greater than the limitations of your physical vessel.

I think that what sets me apart in both my writing and health coaching is my ability to understand people. If you understand the person, you understand communication, and it’s through communication all else is grown. If there’s anything I want anyone reading this to know/remember, it’s that life is so much more grand than the trivial materials of life and stress often make it seem. We are infinite beings in a near infinite universe. We are more than any bill or one bad day. We are the cosmos. I am you, you are me, and if we can find any sort of common ground, then we are limitless in our ability to grow.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I’d like to think my long and tumultuous journey with my eating disorder/s demonstrates my resilience. Both my binge eating disorder and bulimia through exercise- which came about by throwing myself in the polar opposite direction as I got into fitness- have caused me to push myself in exercise, life, and negative self talk that took years to recover from. A moment in time I remember clearly; deep in a binge relapse, I was five days shut in my bedroom in the dead of a Michigan winter. I only left to get more food or use the bathroom. I was completely and utterly locked not in the room itself, but my mind and the grating voice inside. It took everything I had on the sixth day to get up and go for a walk in the blinding blizzard. Had I not, I would not be here answering this now.

I stared into the darkness believing it to be a black cloaked reaper bent on consuming me not realizing it was just many of the traumas I had unhealed trying to protect themselves through coping habits. My ability to not just recognize this but develop the skills to push forward into the fray- shoutout to my wife, Chloe and my therapist, Madison for there support- so that I may find fulfillment through my passions is something that I believe illustrates my resilience.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

That growth is always greener than staying in a space that keeps you unfulfilled. I refrained from pursing not just my recovery, but emotional, spiritual, physical, and professional growth because I was terrified it wouldn’t be better than the trenches I kept myself in. But when I began to learn what self growth really was- it was NOT more negative self talk and especially not more high intensive exercise- and what it could look like- accepting and surrendering to the moment- I realized how much greater and greener self growth is.

Through this, I have since published two books, opened two businesses- the aforementioned nutrition and life coaching business and also a freelance writing business, “Kirby Can Write”- and produced a podcast, “Blossom Where You Bleed” which is available on all major platforms. Fighting for yourself is scary, but fighting against yourself is detrimental.

Contact Info:

• Website: linktr.ee/kirbstop