Hey, what is going on? I'm LaPrentiss, and I am honored that you are looking at this about me page so you get to learn a little bit about me.
Where do I begin? I love games! I play chess, not as competitive as I used to, but I still do play it, so if you're interested in the game, let me know. I also love playing Texas hold 'em poker, so if you play poker, once again, let me know.
I would love to chat poker strategy, I'm a tournament poker player, and I love board games. I have a ton of them in my closet, and I invite people over regularly for board game nights, just because it gets people together, that competitive aspect kicks in, and we get to learn a lot about ourselves and each other.
In addition to that, I am a public speaker. I've done toastmasters for several years and I just love going out and communicating the message with people, trying to inspire, motivate, and captivate people. When it comes to public speaking, I think it's amazing. It's a really tough thing to do, but I think it's so beneficial for any leader.
Not All Fun and Games
I'm in the military. I am a veteran. I've been in 18 years at the time of this creation, and I almost didn't get to do that.
Back when I first started, probably a week before graduating basic training, I got pulled aside and I was told that I have sickle cell anemia. Because of that, they would not let me stay in the military, and they were going to push me out.
I had to fight. I wrote my Congressman, I showed them proof that I didn't have any issues coming up since then, and that if you give me the chance, I can show you that this is not going to be a problem. Luckily, they allowed me to stay in and allowed me to see the world, and I definitely, definitely appreciate that.
One of the things I discovered at that moment was that because I had sickle cell anemia, I knew that I was going to have to drink water, not only to stay hydrated, but to keep on living.
However, as time progressed, it took more and more water in order for me to get hydrated. Not only that, my skin started peeling, cracking, and even bleeding.
Now I know what they say, they say "black don't crack", right? But I was cracking like it was no one's business.
I was trying everything. I would put on cocoa butter. Cocoa butter would make break out even more, so I would stop the cocoa butter, and then I would try lotions, and the same thing, I would break out even more.
It got to the point where I was always wearing pants and always wearing long sleeve shirts, simply because I didn't want anyone to see my skin breaking out.
Drinking Water on Top of Water
I was drinking Crystal Geyser. Crystal Geyser was, my go-to water. I was drinking that all the time, and my airmen will tell you that every day they saw me, I was drinking at least one gallon, the big gallon jugs of the Crystal Geyser water. It ended up becoming about two a day.
Next thing that ended up happening that kind of changed things was I ended up getting plantar fasciitis, the symptoms of plantar fasciitis. I went to the doctor and he was going to get me inserts, and I hated this because I love running, I love working out, I love being fit, and I like to be active all the time.
I know how much it's good for the body, good for the brain, and it just bothered me. I thought I was done, like there was nothing else I could do, and I was completely feeling hopeless and defeated.
The Post That Changed Everything
Then, something happened when I went on Facebook one day. My friend David shared a post that got me curious. You see, I was never thinking about the water I was drinking!
I was feeling dehydrated until I saw this post, and he sent me a post and it was asking, "Are you drinking the best water for your health?" And how the water that you may be drinking isn't really hydrating you, and when I saw that post, I really started doing this motion.
I'm like, "Man, why is my mouth dry? Why is my mouth dry? I'm drinking a whole gallon of Crystal Geyser. Why am I feeling dehydrated?"
I messaged him saying, "Hey, I'm curious, how do I try this water?" I didn't think that there was a difference in water, I thought they're all the same, but apparently they weren't. He's in Texas, I'm in California, so I cannot get to him.
So I do a little bit more searching, and I find a woman who is two hours away from me. I'm able to connect with her, and she agrees to meet me halfway.
She drives an hour to me, I drive an hour to her. When I meet her in this Starbucks, she gives me a small demo of this water, and then she gives me nine gallons of this water. I take it back home and I drink as much of it as I can, and probably four days later.....
I Couldn't Believe The Results
The symptoms of my plantar fasciitis went away, I felt like I could run again. I was a little nervous, didn't want to, but I didn't feel the pain in my feet anymore.
My skin started healing itself. The water didn't cure anything, but I feel like my skin was starting to get better, it wasn't cracking and peeling as much. Then, most importantly was I was actually feeling hydrated.
I knew two things were going to happen the moment I figured that out.
Here I am excited for getting my spa and shower unit!
1) I needed to get my hands on this amazing machine, and
2) I wanted to share this with the world. I love to serve. Being in the military, I love serving and I love helping people, that's one of the biggest things that brings me joy.
Sooo...I got one.
Not only did I get one of the water ionizers, I also got a promotion. When I got that promotion, I was like, "Okay, I need to move. I need to move into a bigger house.
I want to do videos, and I want to share with people what I've been learning." And that's what I've done. I ended up getting the machine, I also got a shower unit that's good for your skin, and since then, my life has turned around 160, or actually 180 lol.
In addition to that, I started looking at health and wellness even more, And I discovered that it doesn't just stop at the water.
The chemicals that we use in and around our house, around our children, around our pets, those things play a major role in wellness as well, and our mindset, what we're telling ourselves. As much as I love serving people, I said, "You know what? I want to build something. I want to be more than just Facebook."
I decided to build this website to help people improve their wellness.
I want to share the things that I've picked up over the years being in the military from traveling the world, and hopefully be able to help you get better health, better wellness, whatever thing it is that you're shooting for.
If this story resonates with you in any way, just feel free to reach out to me. Follow me on this website, follow me on Facebook, go ahead ask me as a friend, and we can talk. We could talk about poker, we could talk about board games, we can talk about improving our health, and I can see what I can do to help get you in the right direction.
If there's anything you need from me, please feel free to reach out, I would love to help you, and thanks for watching. Thanks for watching my about me, and I look forward to seeing you real soon.