R & R - Rx. Reality

Hello wonderful readers,

My name is Jenny Tanck and I am the author of this blog. For my first official post I wanted to share with you a little more insight on who I am and where I am writing from.

I have thought of many different ways to introduce myself on this platform, and instead of writing a long post about my past, the hats I currently wear, and the roles I fill, I thought I would create a list to give you a little preview of the world as I know it. I am also a large fan of lists and keeping things clean and organized, so this form of an introduction makes me happy on multiple levels.

1. I am currently twenty-four years old and live in Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin. 
2. I married the love of my life, Trevor, on August 13th, 2016. Trevor and I were best friends and co-workers for three years prior to dating our senior year in college. Trevor is my soul mate, my better half, and still to this day, my best friend.
3. I grew up on the East side of Madison, Wisconsin and moved six times with my family prior to leaving for college.
4. My mom, Elaine, has been the one constant person in my life throughout every situation, good and bad; she is my role model and my longest friend. My mom is married to the love of her life, Bob, who has been in my life since I was in high school. I have one older brother, Mathew, who is married and expecting his first child with his wife Alyssa. My biological dad, Steve, is also in still my life. My mom and my biological dad began to separate when I was in high school, and they officially got divorced when I was fifteen years old. I am blessed to have a beautiful mother-in-law, Peggy, and a hilarious father-in-law, Frank. I also was fortunate enough to get two amazing younger siblings when I married Trevor this last year. My sister-in-law, Ashley, is a senior in college, and my brother-in-law, Austin, is a sophomore in college. Since painted a picture of my family tree, I should also mention I am a dog mom to an energetic, rescued, Australian Cattle Dog, Blue Heeler, named Riley. Riley is three years old and is one spoiled fur child.
5. I am dyslexic. I was diagnosed with dyslexia in the second grade when my teacher noticed I was having difficulty reading. My teacher suggested to my mom that I get tested, and shortly after being tested, I was diagnosed with dyslexia. When I was diagnosed with this learning ability, the doctors told my mom that I would not be able to read past a second grade level. 
6. After being diagnosed with dyslexia, there was something inside of my second grade mind that clicked, and I knew I was going to have to work a lot harder than the "other normal kids" in order to succeed in school. I was made fun of for not being able to read, and told I was not smart by the other students. My mom sought out the best tutor in town and found a wonderful woman by the name of Kathy P. who helped people of all ages with learning abilities. I can recall the first day I met Kathy like it was yesterday. Kathy did the tutoring in the basement of her home where she had a nice study room to complete all of her teachings. On the first day, Kathy told me very nicely that my brain doesn't see things the same way the other kids do. Kathy then pulled out a carton of orange juice to help explain how special my brain really was. She explained that the orange juice going into the carton is knowledge and can easily flow in and out of the hole near the top. Knowledge can flow sometimes effortlessly through the opening and this is how some of the other kids in my school were able to learn so easily. She went on to explain that my brain was like the top of the orange juice carton where the sides are closed and sealed shut. Kathy started to peel apart the top very slowly and explained how my brain will be able to retain knowledge. Even though it's sealed shut, it can be taken apart and opened to allow orange juice or knowledge to enter. Each way of getting knowledge into the brain is great, but the way my brain works will take a little bit longer, and a little more work to gain knowledge. I went to Kathy for tutoring for close to seven years. She taught me how to read, write, spell, comprehend books, and so, so much more. I owe all of my educational success to Kathy. I truly believe I would not have been able to graduate elementary school, middle school, high school, let alone college without the educational tutoring from her. 
7. I studied at Lakeland College, which recently changed to Lakeland University, in Plymouth, Wisconsin. I graduated from college in three and a half years with degrees in nonprofit management and communication. Yes, you did read that correctly, I finished my college career in three and a half years with two degrees under my belt. This was a large accomplishment for me, and I am proud of my dedication and determination to finish college a semester early. Not to mention, I was previously told I wasn't going to read past the second grade level, talk about proving people wrong!
8. I have done a little bit of traveling within the past ten years. In high school, I traveled to New Zealand and Australia with the People To People student ambassador program. As an early graduation present to myself, I decided to take a trip to London, Paris, and Rome with EF College Break in the summer of 2014. My husband and I honeymooned with our two very good friends in Cabo San Lucas last November. I have a laundry list of places I would like to see, and I am sure I will be able to travel to them when the time is right.

I am going to stop my list there before I go too far down the rabbit hole of my past and who I am. In my later posts, I will go more in depth with some of the topics I have listed and many, many more.

I also wanted to take some time to discuss why I chose the blog name: MS. Minimalist Yogini. 

I chose Ms. to represent that I am married to my best friend, Trevor. I am sure some of you are thinking, man, this lady needs to go back to English class because Ms. doesn't stand for a married woman, Mrs. does! You are correct that Mrs. does mean a married woman, but Ms. can stand for a married or unmarried woman, depending on how the woman would like to be addressed. I also chose MS. because I was diagnosed with MS (multiple sclerosis) in January of this year. I will share my diagnosis story in a later post, so stay tuned.

The second word in my blog name is minimalist, because I am on the journey of becoming a minimalist. I have been following the blog Becoming Minimalist by Joshua Becker for a few years now, and I recently finished his book The More of Less that has really sparked my interest in the minimalist lifestyle. Also, since my diagnosis, I have been very interested in de-cluttering and de-stressing my life as much as possible, and the minimalist lifestyle is the perfect way of doing this. I am still on my journey to living a full minimalist lifestyle, so I thought this would be the perfect way to share my progress.

The last word in my blog title is Yogini. A Yogini is the Sanskrit name for a female who practices yoga. In April of this year, I became a 200 hour RYT (registered yoga teacher) through Yoga on the Lake in Kohler, Wisconsin. Yoga has been a huge part of my life in the past to the present moment and has helped me heal myself. My personal yoga practice began five and a half years ago when I was a freshman in college. I started yoga for the physical benefits of the practice and quickly began to notice an internal shift, and larger forces pulling me to my mat. As my practice continued to evolve, I started noticing the benefits of yoga on the mat and off the mat. I was more grounded, peaceful, less reactionary, and filled with more love for others and myself. I began to see and feel all of the beauty that surrounded me.

Please know that this blog will not be perfect because the author is imperfect. Please know that I am not any more special than you are, I am just a regular twenty-four year old that feels the need to share my story, and hopefully encourage and influence you to do the same. We all have stories to share, and I am honored to share mine with you.

I am welcoming comments and suggestions on topics for the blog, so if you have a topic or a question, please feel free to reach out to me or leave a comment right here. I do ask that the comments and suggestions come from a genuine interest. We all know how social media can sometimes get a little negative, and I would like to keep this blog as upbeat and positive as possible.

I will be posting on Mondays to help create a positive start to your week, so please check back and follow this blog for new posts on Monday mornings!

I greatly appreciate you taking the time to read the very first post, and I look forward to writing and sharing my story with you.

 

Thank you!