Scottsdale Health July 2019

AFTER MOVING TO AMERICA
FROM THE PHILIPPINES,
GYDA HOUSER FOUND
HAPPINESS IN CONNECTING
WITH OTHERS THROUGH
HEALTH AND FITNESS
/ by Gabby Leighton
/ photos by James Patrick
Gyda Houser’s
story starts in the
Philippines, where
she was born and
raised. At age 18,
she was thriving with
a close-knit group
of friends, working
toward her degree in
diplomacy and set in
her ways, but everything
changed when
her parents decided
to make a big move
to America.
“The most difficult
part of my move
was overcoming my
fear of change and
adaptation,” she
recalls. “I had to
quit school, bid my
friends goodbye, and
start a new life in a
place filled with people
who don’t speak
my language or look
like me.”
ADJUSTING TO
A NEW LIFE
The term “culture
shock” was an
understatement to
how Houser felt
when she arrived to
the US – she was
severely plagued
by the cultural differences
she experienced
and was
unable to leave her
home for a period
of time.
“I didn’t have
any friends and I
didn’t want to make
new ones anytime
soon. In my mind, I
was going to wake
up one day back
in my old bed at
my home in the
Philippines.”
After a period
of isolation, Houser
finally found some-
thing to make her
happy: fitness.
“I came across
a Tae Bo DVD in my
aunt’s closet, the one
with Billy Blanks. I
would get up at 5
a.m. and do it once
a day, three or four
times a week. Then,
eventually, seven
days a week.”
Her newfound
love for fitness,
which she says is
viewed as more
of a luxury than a
necessity in the
Philippines, helped
Houser relate to
Americans and gain
the self-assurance
she needed to begin
her life here. She
would go to the gym
with her aunt to work
out, observe her surroundings
and inter-
50 ScottsdaleHealth 07/19