She was inspired to explore the world

Amy Champ, our September 2011 Role Model of the Month, lives an amazing life. Growing up poor and in a home with alcoholism and addiction inspired her to be independent and explore the world and her interests. Her story will inspire you.

Q:        Please tell me a little about your life growing up?

Amy:   My biological father left my mother and me when I was very young, so I never got to meet him. My mom married my stepfather when I was just a toddler. I have two half-sisters, Laura and Becky. We have always been very close. We were poor and we moved a lot—Sacramento, South Carolina, and Portland, Oregon. I went to five different schools in fifth grade alone.  My stepfather was an alcoholic who always lost his job, so I saw my mother keeping everything together and realized that I had to fend for myself. I always worked and had a job of some kind since I was about eight years old. Whether it was cutting grass, babysitting, or helping in my mom’s flower shop, I always found a way to support myself.  I learned that freedom is very important in life, but that a certain level of responsibility also goes with it.

Q:        It sounds like your stepfather’s alcoholism and drug addiction had a big impact on you.

Amy:   Yes, we had a lot of emotional and financial problems due to my stepdad’s alcoholism, but we also had a very tight-knit family. We relied on our extended family and they were my friends, confidants, and teachers about the world. My mother and stepfather separated a few times, but they would get back together. She ended up leaving when I went away to college, and he ended up homeless and started doing hard drugs. This was really hard to take for my sisters and me. When we would see him, he just wasn’t himself at all; he was so far gone. He died in a fire while camping on the river. It is really a story about addiction and total lack of recovery.

Q:        Growing up, who were some of the influential people in your life?

Amy:   Aside from my mother, it was teachers and preachers. I started going to church when I was seven and kept going twice a week until I was about 17 years old. I went to both winter and summer church camp and even when I went to the roller rink, it was with a preacher. I was also very academic, reading anything and everything I could get my hands on.  My parents were determined to teach us how to do things for ourselves. My mom would tell us about Grandpa Pop saying, “You are the one that needs to know how to build a fence. You have to learn. You have to be educated. You need to know how to milk a cow.” That’s how I was raised. We didn’t have brothers, so when we went camping, we pitched the tents, we hauled the wood for the fire, and we put the bait on our own fishing hook. My mom is very creative and very smart. She would set us up with projects. We had a TV, but it did not stay on, the radio was on and we were busy doing something. I sewed my little fingers off. I did needlepoint, cross-stitched, crocheted and made quilts. We didn’t have money, so we made everything by hand. I got my creativity and “know how” from my mother.

Q:        What were the defining moments in your life?

Amy:   When I turned 16, I started writing poetry and then went to the California State Summer School for the Arts to study writing. I watched Dead Poets’ Society, and then it was all over.

I went to a magnet school for gifted children in high school, the Humanities and International Studies Program. We studied the classics and read great works of literature and philosophy from all the continents. I took the city bus for two years from the poor part of town to the good school, then my parents moved closer so I could ride my bike to school. When my best friend went to a presentation about Claremont McKenna College, I went with her. I was dressed like a gypsy and the man there said, “I’m referring you to Pitzer College.” Pitzer was kind of a hippie school really interested in social activism. It was a perfect fit. I majored in Anthropology and Literary Studies.

Moving and traveling have also had a huge impact. Aside from living in many cities in the U.S, I’ve lived in Zimbabwe, South Africa and Amsterdam. I’ve also traveled extensively throughout India, Nepal, Africa, and Europe.

When I married a family friend who was a farmer, I learned all about living in the country. We had a daughter together, but as partners we were not compatible. It has been a journey for both of us to find our friendship again and become active parents together. We had to put the past behind us and learn to forgive. I don’t think you can understand the power of forgiveness until you go through something like that yourself. When I became a parent I started to understand the power of presence and asking myself, “What do I have to share? What do I have to learn?” I learn from her every day.

Q:        How would you describe your career path?

Amy:   It has been challenging. I think I have tried EVERYTHING! I’ve worked in cafés, worked in publishing, the music industry, non-profit, corporate, and for the past ten years I have taught Political Science and American History at local community colleges, Sacramento State University and University of Phoenix. Teaching for me has been a way to pull together what I have learned and believe and to give back to society. I really connect to the college age group in terms of understanding what they are going through, their dreams, and mentoring them.

After I graduated from college, I got a Fulbright Fellowship to go to Africa and work with a women’s theatre group. It was like, “Wake up at ten. Go for a drumming lesson. Go to rehearsal. Go see a reggae band. Late night jam session at my house.” Every day was like that for two years, and when I came back to the US, I had to make money and it was a little bit disconcerting. Ever since then, I have been on a mission to find my purpose—to draw all these skills and interests together, and make something of myself, and find a way to really be of service to the world.

I am currently working on my PhD in Performance Studies and Feminism at University of California, Davis and assistant teaching in Religious Studies. I became a Yoga teacher six years ago and now I’m writing my dissertation about how Yoga teachers engage in social service and become leaders in their communities. I always wanted to be able to represent my spirituality and my experiences as something that would help people liberate themselves from their struggles. I am also starting to help orphans with my own organization www.twiga-usa.org and that really feels like work that my heart wants to do—helping kids who are on their own.

Last summer I went to University of Cambridge to speak at a conference about the cycles of peace and violence in South Asia. It was a tough decision because I did not have the money to do it and I did not want to leave my daughter, but I decided to just go for it. I collected research about Yoga at libraries all over England. I spent a week in Oxford going to the library every day. For me, it was a dream come true.

Q:        Your life is amazing. You have had many obstacles to overcome and you have still thrived. What keeps you going?

Amy:   Every problem we have is multi-faceted. Even though I think of life as being simple, I think problems need to be approached in a variety of ways. I once heard Barack Obama say something like, “You will never see me simplify a problem. The solutions are complex.” That is so profound. I was used to struggling and fighting for my survival. I worked in high school, had a job every summer in college and all through college. I was strong and tough when I was young. I think people should do challenging things when they’re young, because you’re invincible in a lot of ways. My greatest challenge is to grab that kind of tenacity in my older years.

Q:        What would you say has been your greatest disappointment and what did you learn from it?

Amy:   I think life is very hard in a lot of ways and that is why self-inquiry is so important. I had some very serious issues to deal with. That my biological father left my mother and me when I was very young was very hard, but it taught me to accept it as his choice, or perhaps just his predicament, and not a reflection on us. Acceptance burned away my anger and made me more tolerant of people’s choices and complicated circumstances. I also learned that I could make my own choice in deciding not to find him, and not feel guilty about that.

My stepfather’s alcoholism, made me tough on the outside. But when you’re that tough, you are going to crack at some point. To be really whole and functioning, you have to allow that vulnerability to come through. I went to India when I was 22 years old and had a nervous breakdown in Varanasi. That’s when I realized healing myself and enjoying myself is my real job. Everything else became secondary to finding a way to love myself after all that, and figure out what it actually means to love other people. That’s when my journey really started. It’s been a healing journey.

Q:        Do you ever feel afraid? And if so, when and how do you keep moving forward even when you are afraid?

Amy:   I’ve never been a fearful person, but I have to say that certain things scare the heck out of me—caves, roller coasters, horror films. I had some pretty harrowing experiences when I was a kid, like riding in a car with someone who was drunk, and really feeling like I was going to die. I now feel the need to control things a little bit. I like quiet, peaceful environments, very positive and healthy settings. I read a lot of self-help books. The teachings are out there. Life is an exciting adventure if you are willing to open yourself up to change. I think middle class lifestyles, multimedia, and consumerism breed a kind of narcissism that makes this level of self-awareness almost antiquated, but us spiritual and intellectual folk still try to get our point across.

Q:        What advice would you have for someone who has a dream and wants to pursue that dream but is afraid?

Amy:   It’s been said about 20 million times before, but it’s true, you have to do the things that scare you. I do this intentionally. If I notice that I’m about to give up, I will absolutely force myself to do it, no matter how frightening or devastating the risks feel at the time. I look forward to seeing myself look back on an experience as being transcended. Whatever the thing is doesn’t really matter. I pride myself on leading a Socratic life [life of exploration and critical thinking]. It’s the idea of overcoming the fear that matters. That level of growth is where we can live and thrive more fully.

Congratulations to Amy, our Everyday Role Model. Amy, thank you for sharing your story. I am sure it will inspire many to live life freely and achieve their dreams.

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