We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Trudy Wendelin a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Trudy, appreciate you joining 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.
After years of being unfulfilled in my corporate career, I finally decided to take the leap! I enrolled at Pacific College of Health and Sciences in San Diego to become an Acupuncturist in East Asian Medicine. By suffering with chronic pain from a traumatic car accident, I discovered acupuncture helped me overcome the pain more than anything. Because I was seeking a meaningful vocation, it only made sense to become an Acupuncturist. Then, I could share with others, the holistic medicine that helped me so much.
At the time, I also considered career options in travel and writing, other passions of mine. Interestingly, becoming an acupuncturist would later provide worldwide travel opportunities for writing.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
As an Acupuncturist, I offer services in the 5 branches of East Asian Medicine: acupuncture, herbal medicine, nutrition, exercise and massage. This holistic and ancient medicine is very effective for pain, stress, weight loss, digestive and respiratory concerns. Most of my experience is working as a Spa Acupuncturist on cruise ships with One Spa World. So, I typically treat people while they are on vacation. My lifeworks taught me that people often heal better while on vacation. They are more relaxed and away from everyday stressors that made them sick or unhealthy in the first place. So, I facilitate balance and wellness in my patients through travel and East Asian Medicine.
Additionally, serving at Acupuncture Relief Project in Nepal was one of the most meaningful experiences in my life. In 2018 I spent 3 months in rural Nepal as an acupuncture volunteer treating hundreds of the locals. Also, in Seattle I volunteered for Acupuncturists without Borders treating war veterans for PTSD. Overall, I found both these projects rewarding and wish to do more volunteer work in the future.
My writing is connected to my travel and wellness career path. I write articles with photographs and videos documenting my travel and wellness discoveries from around the world to more than 100 countries.
Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?
Becoming an Acupuncturist in East Asian Medicine takes a lot of passion, discipline and skill. It is not for everyone. Firstly, the arduous training requires years (varies with each state) of study, memorization and practice. Like any service, practitioners must be driven from deep within to help others. Acupuncturists need to be strong advocates for holistic medicine, while being integrative with conventional medicine. East Asian Medicine is both a science and art. So, the practitioner must be balanced with their thinking, using both sides of the brain for logic and intuition.
The best acupuncturists also need to be good marketers or teachers to promote their profession. Because it’s a fairly unique holistic healthcare service in the western world, acupuncturists must educate and motivate patients on its benefits. Many of my patients on the cruise ship schedule appointments after attending my seminars or free consultations.
Do you think you’d choose a different profession or specialty if you were starting now?
Yes, I would go back and choose my acupuncture career all over again. However, part of me wishes that I would have started earlier. Since becoming an acupuncturist, I developed more energy to put towards my career than ever. As the Confucius saying goes, “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” This new trajectory also pronounced my interests in travel and wellness writing through my working vacation as an Acupuncturist-at-Sea. Overall, I feel as though everything became more aligned once I got on this path. Even though, my ego wanted it to start sooner, my soul knows that it happened when I was ready.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://truewindhealingtravel.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truewindtravel
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/truewindhealingtravel
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trudy-wendelin/
- Twitter: https://x.com/trudywendelin
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TrueWindHealingTravel
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/true-wind-healing-travel-seattle
- Other: https:// https://www.pinterest.com/truewindhealingtravel/
Image Credits
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