Welcome to my Journey

Hi and welcome to my blog and the Emberdune Natural Therapies website.

My name is Nikola Stevenson and I am the sole operator and therapist at Emberdune.

I am 32 years old and live in the picturesque rural Queensland town called Chinchilla.

After meeting in highschool and 7 years dating I married the love of my life on the 13th of October 2007. We now have 2 beautiful children, a son who will be turning 3 in October and a daughter who is only 9 months old.

Health and wellness have always been improtant to me, but they have also always been hard work. Growing up on the farm we tended to run or ride our bikes everywhere and I had the opportunity to try out numerous sports as I grew up. We ate the typical meat and 3 veg meals with the occassional treat meal. I was a happy and healthy tomboy who loved swimming, soccer and pasta, but as I grew older I started to get bullied for by weight.

Now in retrospect there was nothing wrong with my appearance. I look back now at the few photos I allowed to be taken, during my teenage years, with a bite of envy at my strong swimmers figure. But obviously some people had decided that my build, which is a direct result of my father's DNA on my genetic make-up, was something I could change.

The negative perception of myself from this impressionable age has been hard to overcome and it is something that I still battle with. But there is a big difference between negative body image and an unhealthy body.

Since having my children I have found myself straying further and further from what I know to be the key components of a healthy lifestyle. It's not that I think I'm fat, it's that I know I am living in a way that is not healthy, and this really needs to change for myself and my family.

My motivation for starting this blog is to share my experience and hopefully in turn assist others on their own journey to achieving their health and wellness goals.