ABOUT

Welcome to The Lavender Life! My name is Nicole Liebig, RDH. I'm a dental hygienist practicing in Castleton, Vermont, and mom of two. I'm married to my wonderful husband, Nick, and together we share our two beautiful boys Isaac and Benjamin. While on maternity leave with my second, I completed my bachelors degree, and I'm thrilled to have been able to do so with a 4.0 GPA! Obviously I love to be busy, so I'm always looking for more adventures, education, and avenues to explore- this blog being one of them!

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A little more about my journey

I grew up in the small border town of Granville, New York, situated in the heart of the Slate Valley. I graduated from Granville Jr./Sr. High School in 2014, ranked fifth in my class. I always knew I wanted to attend college and focus on the sciences, but I had started to experience severe anxiety during my senior year of high school. Due to my anxiety, I chose to decline a full scholarship to the University of Vermont and stay at home, taking classes at the local community college until I could improve my mental health. After a long year of crippling anxiety, I decided to try yoga for the first time, and it CHANGED MY LIFE. For the first time in over a year, I felt relief from my anxiety during savasana. I felt tears streaming down my face as I sat in silence observing my practice. In that moment, I knew I was capable of healing.

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I continued to practice yoga regularly on my own, and also decided to make a stronger connection to nature to promote further healing and personal growth. I started working on an organic vegetable and dairy farm, pulling weeds and planting seeds five days a week under the summer sun. At the end of long day in the fields, I would milk about 40 cows with my now husband, Nick. 

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In 2015, I decided to apply for the dental hygiene program at Hudson Valley Community College, and I got in! I knew it would be difficult, but I was determined. I now felt in control of myself and my life, and was ready to take on the challenge. So for three years, I drove four hours a day to and from college, became president of my college's chapter of the Student American Dental Hygienists' Association, and managed to graduate at the top of my dental hygiene class with honors. I started working in dentistry straight out of dental hygiene school in 2018. The dental hygiene program is an associates degree, but the number of prerequisite credits needed to even be considered for the program put me far over the associate credit requirements. So, I wanted to complete my bachelors degree, since I was so close!

 

Due to a series of life changes, including the birth of my first son in 2020, I decided to hold off on college until January of 2022. I enrolled at Northern Vermont University where I began to pursue my Bachelors of Arts in Professional Studies. This degree path allowed me to use my previous credits from my associates degree as a foundation to build my own curriculum. I designed a degree plan that blended dental hygiene with holistic health and wellness classes. I was truly able to build a degree that included many interests of mine. I plan to pass on my newfound knowledge to my patients, family, & friends to promote heath, happiness, & well-being.  

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