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What would you do after coming close to dying five times? Maybe tap your bank account and take a long trip to discover the world? Move to the tropics and meditate on a mountain? For openly gay actor and entrepreneur, or gay-trepreneur as he calls himself, Peter Bedard, it meant starting his own alternative health website, CreateYourhealth.com, as a way to help others to help themselves. CreateYourHealth is an informative website where a viewer can watch interviews of various healers from voodoo-shaman to cutting edge Western medical advances AND they demonstrate what they do on Peter’s person.

Peter’s experience of coming close to dying several times didn’t follow the classic near death experience of hospital room dramas. His heart didn’t stop but he did have long conversations with God, journey down a tunnel of brilliant white light, and speak with a “spirit guide” while deciding if he was willing to come back into his body and continue on the physical plane. Now, if you’re thinking that sounds pretty far out there, know that Peter is the first to say, “It was crazy!” While Peter was telling me about a severe accident that left him with a shattered leg, split wrist, and five cracked vertebrae he stated, “I remember floating above my body as it lay in the middle of the street. I was so unhappy with my life and my body was so damaged that I didn’t want to get back into it. For weeks I would ‘leave my body’ to have long conversations with these very loving energies who were always telling me I had to keep fighting and heal.”  Peter’s life changed dramatically at seventeen with this accident and the next fifteen years were filled with chronic pain and a series of illnesses that seemed to appear out of nowhere. Because of this seemingly impossible list of injuries and illnesses Peter has become an expert when it comes to seeking out help in the world of alternative health. He has experienced many different healing modalities, including Western medicine. Peter has a MA in Consciousness Studies and a certificate in Hypnotherapy. Recently, I sat down with Peter to discuss his new show, CreateYourHealth.com and his experience with almost dying…and making a business out of it.

Q. What was it like coming close to dying so many times?

A. Well, it’s hard to describe. My body was a mess for a long time. I had chronic everything. I’ve had to heal myself of fibromyalgia, bronchitis, asthma, sciatica, chronic sinus infections and an allergy to chlorine, chronic pain, severe dehydration, depression, and I’ve had to re-learn how to walk. The close to death experience was easy! It was having to come back into my body that was hard and continues to be at times.

Q. What is the motivation behind your starting CreateYourHealth.com?

A. Well, when I was going through all of this I felt angry and frustrated because the only options I saw for healing were pharmaceutical drugs and surgery. Now, don’t get me wrong, my Western doctors were great and they’ve certainly saved my life, but they didn’t present any good solutions for healing myself from asthma or chronic fatigue for example. The current treatment for asthma is basically steroids and I’m not interested in becoming a walking medicine cabinet full of drugs. Out of desperation and stubbornness I turned to alternative health for a solution not really thinking that any of it was going to work. Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised.

Q. What obstacles have you encountered along your journey in starting your business?

A. Wow! Tons. I had no idea what I was doing but I really had some great guidance. The first thing I did was create what we call a “Treatment” which is a synopsis of sorts for pitching a show to the television industry. I shot a promo reel as well to give an example of the feeling of the show. I was rejected flat out most everywhere I went. I even had the head of development for one production company tell me there was no money in alternative health. I responded by saying, “It’s a ten billion dollar a year industry and one of the fastest growing sectors of our economy.” What about that he didn’t get I’ll never know.

Q. You talk about taking responsibility for being sick? What does that mean?

A. I mean not worrying about blame and accepting that you’re sick. Spending time and energy blaming the car that hit you, the virus that infected you, or the birth defect that crippled you is a pure waste of time. Deal with it and take responsibility for where you are, how you feel, and what you are doing about it. It is such a waste of vital energy, which is limited enough when you’re ill or injured, obsessing about why you are where you are. I say shut up and do something about it. Heal yourself!

In our Western model of healing we aren’t encouraged to take responsibility for our health. Now, that is changing but basically we are told to take a pill and maybe make a couple of lifestyle changes like diet and exercise. Well, alternative health practices require you to participate in your healing. Often, on top of doing some basic lifestyle changes like exercise and eating healthy, you have to look at what the illness means on a psychic or spiritual level. How does it serve you? Seriously, what does being sick do for you? Does it prove your belief that life is hard and you’re a victim? Does it make real that limited self-fulfilling belief about yourself? Does your being sick “punish” someone else?

Is that the kind of life you really want to create for yourself because you’ve been really successful creating it so far? When you stop blaming and begin living in acceptance then you have real power. You move into your personal power and stop giving away yourself to who or what you perceived to have caused your illness. When you take responsibility for your dis-ease then you step into your true power and can begin to change your life and create the life you really want for yourself.

Q. What was it like starting a website/business from scratch?

A. Exhausting! It’s been really challenging. I have a very entrepreneurial spirit but no training at all in business. I’m still figuring it out! Every day I say to myself, “Okay, this is where we are at and this is where we want to be. Now, how do we get there?” It’s the same as healing. I’ve been lucky to have found some amazingly talented people who have been willing to help me along the way; everyone from Valerie Landsburg who helped me create a business plan to Justin Porter my editor, Jaronn Lee Waters who maintains the CYH website, and Alex Cason my camera woman.  I knew nothing about starting a business let alone creating regular content for a web based television show and with your help CYH is growing.

Q. What do you see in the future for CreateYourHealth.com?

A. First, I see providing the opportunity for a lot of people to heal themselves. CYH is designed to be non-judgmental and every doctor and practitioner is interviewed with the positive attitude that what they do works. My job is to provide choices for healing. The viewer’s job is to heal either with the healer featured in the segment they watched, with another healer who does they same thing, or to find something else that works for them.

We are talking with some producers about spinning off a few different concepts I have for CYH onto network television. I’d like to grow the website into a referral service for alternative health and cutting edge Western medical doctors while continuously providing content and interviews concerning alternative health choices. I really want to grow CYH into an interactive online community.

Q. What has it been like being a gay man in business for himself?

A. Believe it or not, being an out gay actor hurt my career for several years, I was too gay or not gay enough. I think our society is finally growing up and allowing for greater diversity when it comes to how we as gay people are perceived. It’s like we are leaving our ignorant childhood behind and moving into adulthood and acceptance and tolerance. Even with the recent set back of losing our rights in several states across the country we are making progress and being integrated into the cultural mainstream. Who we are and how we are treated is going to change a lot in the next twenty years and I think things are going to get even better.

One of the reasons I started my own business was to avoid discrimination and the “pink” ceiling. I don’t want my sexuality to be the first message I put out there. CYH is all about healing and growth (mind, body, spirit) for everyone. It is all-inclusive and does not discriminate. I really strive to take a positive attitude and outlook on the many healing practices that are available to all of us.

It’s pretty scary being an independent businessman but I’m so happy that I did this. Having creative freedom is very important to me and I don’t think I could have done this any other way. Now, I’m looking for partners to grow what I’m already doing instead of someone to make my idea happen. It is a totally different mind-set and I love it! I look forward to creating professional business sharing opportunities with other gay-trepreneurs. It’s better than dying!

www.CreateYourHealth.com

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