I have been in healthcare for over 30 years, and I have witnessed so much change in our world in that time. Not long ago, healthcare practitioners didn’t live behind computers delivering patient care. We complained about the growing demands of computer documentation and enjoyed the simplicity of paper charting.
That wasn’t long ago, because I’m not that old. However, today, information (and misinformation) is a mere finger stroke away. We are bombarded with new information, so overwhelmingly so, that every time we turn around there is some new crisis lurking just around every corner from the very edges of our world, just enough to re-ignite malingering anxieties. We suddenly find that our world has changed so drastically that we have forgotten simply how to be healthy… and happy.
🥁 An Out-of-Rhythm Drum
It seems that so many aspects of our everyday lives are now geared towards speed, convenience, or digital substitutes. We are naively dependent on the food and basic necessities provided for us by the nearest big box store. No longer do we feel the need for canning when we can buy what we need from any grocer, in any season year-round. No longer do we need to sew our own clothes when the latest fashion is affordable at a mere Amazon swipe. Gardening has become a weekend past-time, with annual flowers and maybe a few exotic potted plants or a few vegetables being grown just for fun—no longer a necessity.
We now live in a world where both parents work just to make ends meet, and Netflix shows have become the center of breakroom talks over coffee at work. Children spend hours in front of video games making ‘friends,’ and losing the ability to hold intellectual conversations while maintaining eye contact with adults. We are so mentally drained that we choose to text a friend rather than make the effort to meet for lunch. We opt to pick up fast food on the way home for the kids instead of creating a home-cooked meal together. We ask Alexa to manage our schedules, ask ChatGPT for fashion advice, and use Google Maps to navigate from one obligation to the next.
Depression and anxiety have hit an all-time high with people desperately turning to doctors for help. People are eating ‘all the right foods’ and frantically biking on their Peloton in their virtual spin class but still gaining weight. Heck, doctors are even turning to doctors for answers with the same problems among each other, prescribing medications to patients and themselves, so that we, as a society, can drive on to the beat of an out-of-rhythm drum.
🌿 The Power of Herbal Medicine
Despite this unhealthy and unhappy lifestyle that seems to be today’s norm, I believe we are at the dawn of a new awakening, which is ironic because this awakening is centered on not-so-old-world solutions. Perhaps Grandma and Grandpa were on to something: we are missing something tangible, something meaningful, something important.
Across my 30+ year journey, I have spent years researching and working in many capacities of medicine. My life experiences treating patients have spanned across three continents and have ranged from in-utero to end-of-life care, trauma to chronic illnesses, military and civilian—and everything in between. Across them all, I have discovered what has always been: herbal medicine.
Herbs are a vivacious source of survival for humanity. Herbs are all around us, and are actually intelligent sources of critical life. Without herbs there would be no life source, as they provide food, medicine, and the delicate balance of nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide in the air we desperately need for survival.
As a proud graduate of David Winston’s Center for Herbal Studies, I am an herbalist with a distinct difference. I have a very unique approach to medicine, utilizing my former military training coupled with my extensive experience as a licensed respiratory therapist for 20 years. I understand the conventional approach to medicine, but I also provide an herbal niche that most do not.
Though I specialize in sleep, anxiety, depression, PTSD, and the respiratory system, I treat more than just symptoms, I treat the entire person. I use plants in such a way that most people are unaware possible. I utilize old-world practices to really get to the root of dis-ease, allowing the proper herbs to heal the root cause and allowing the body to heal itself.
💚 Join Me at Rebekah’s
I think this awakening is just starting to happen. There are communities of people waking up to the realization that herbs are powerful, as they are searching for ways to reconnect and seeking solutions to unanswered questions. People want to make a change, to re-learn how to be healthy… and happy in our modern world.
I have found that Rebekah’s offers a home to these communities, almost like an outreach program. She has consistently built an open space, allowing for anyone looking for answers to find something within her stores. You don’t have to be a subject matter expert on health and wellness to find answers and products to improve your life. That’s what her stores, her staff, and her practitioner events are focused on.
As part of her community, I’ll be teaming up with Rebekah and her crew to hold my Health Beyond the Headlines class on Saturday, February 28 from 10am to 1pm in Lapeer. Join me and Rebekah’s staff for an uplifting, educational, and hopeful fight for our health. I will talk about how to get back to basics, with an emphasis on reading—and decoding—labels, understanding PLU codes, and how to navigate a healthy balance in this fast-track, digital world we are living in. We will discuss our senses, our skin, and what to look for to maximize our healthy exposures during our everyday life.
Don’t worry about where you are in your own journey. I recognize how we all have different stages of life and come from different backgrounds, so I will guide individually. My class wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t discuss our up and fast-approaching spring (though I hear Punxsutawney Phil’s ex-wife now lives in Florida and said that Phil is a compulsive liar) and ideas as to how to expand our spring preparation.
Like we say in the Army, “Train as you fight, fight as you train!” Healthcare is about training your body to be able to fight to survive and be healthy—physically, mentally, and spiritually. It takes 100% effort every day so that your body is resilient and prepared to thrive.
With sincerity,
Jennifer Matakovich
Clinical Herbalist
Licensed Respiratory Therapist (retired)
📣 A Special Offer for Those Who Attend!
Save 10% off your in-store purchase when you attend the Health Beyond Headlines event. Offer valid for use in Rebekah’s Lapeer store February 28, 2026, only.
Seating is limited! Register to attend the Health Beyond Headlines event today. Visit the Events page for more information: rebekahspureliving.com/events
