Community & Current Events
Jenna Howe: Holistic health-care creator
Photography by Janis Nicolay Image by: Photography by Janis Nicolay
Community & Current Events
Jenna Howe: Holistic health-care creator
Name: Jenna Howe
Location: Victoria, B.C.
Job: Creator of Rejeneration
Sometimes chasing your dreams means leaving your comfort zone – or even moving out of town.
Her dream
In the summer of 2011, Jenna Howe, a single mother of two children, decided to move her family from Toronto to Victoria in order to pursue her dream of launching Rejeneration, a holistic health-care business specializing in concussion recovery.
"The opportunities I was looking for in Ontario weren't happening," Jenna recalls. "I started to experience an intense feeling of ‘I need to go and I need to go now.' Once you make the decision to extract yourself from your old life, things really do start to fall into place, but it's not always a fairy tale." Just before moving out west, Jenna experienced pushback from her ex-husband. "At that point, I could have very easily abandoned the whole process. It would have been far easier. But I just said: No, I'm going to continue."
The stakes were incredibly high: "Getting out here cost me everything," Jenna says. But the payoff was worth it. "My dad told me when I was younger, ‘The most important thing in life is to be happy.' The way I look at it is, Why can't I be happy doing the work I love to do? You can't live your life with regret. So I decided that money's just money."
Her secret
By not allowing money or geography to limit her options, Jenna Howe opened up a new world of possibilities for herself and her family.
"I believe there are two types of people in this world: those who find themselves in a box and complain about the box, and others who are in the same box but who open it up and step out," says Vancouver marketing strategist Michela Quilici.
"Some people stay stuck because they choose not to choose. If you want something different, you have to choose something different," says Annie Gelfand, a life coach from Peterborough, Ont.
We have more stories of extraordinary Canadians.
Location: Victoria, B.C.
Job: Creator of Rejeneration
Sometimes chasing your dreams means leaving your comfort zone – or even moving out of town.
Her dream
In the summer of 2011, Jenna Howe, a single mother of two children, decided to move her family from Toronto to Victoria in order to pursue her dream of launching Rejeneration, a holistic health-care business specializing in concussion recovery.
"The opportunities I was looking for in Ontario weren't happening," Jenna recalls. "I started to experience an intense feeling of ‘I need to go and I need to go now.' Once you make the decision to extract yourself from your old life, things really do start to fall into place, but it's not always a fairy tale." Just before moving out west, Jenna experienced pushback from her ex-husband. "At that point, I could have very easily abandoned the whole process. It would have been far easier. But I just said: No, I'm going to continue."
The stakes were incredibly high: "Getting out here cost me everything," Jenna says. But the payoff was worth it. "My dad told me when I was younger, ‘The most important thing in life is to be happy.' The way I look at it is, Why can't I be happy doing the work I love to do? You can't live your life with regret. So I decided that money's just money."
Her secret
By not allowing money or geography to limit her options, Jenna Howe opened up a new world of possibilities for herself and her family.
"I believe there are two types of people in this world: those who find themselves in a box and complain about the box, and others who are in the same box but who open it up and step out," says Vancouver marketing strategist Michela Quilici.
"Some people stay stuck because they choose not to choose. If you want something different, you have to choose something different," says Annie Gelfand, a life coach from Peterborough, Ont.
We have more stories of extraordinary Canadians.
| This story was originally titled "Meet the Dreamers" in the December 2013 issue. Subscribe to Canadian Living today and never miss an issue! |
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