California Baptist University

Kruger says this ability to pro tect her personal value while help ing others led her to return to uni versity and choose art therapy and graphic design as her new majors. “When I was a nurse, I enjoyed

ing me there’s too much going on in an effort to pro tect my emotions. However, when you tell your mind ‘I’m strong enough to handle this’ and prepare yourself, you protect your body from needing to react.”

HERE TO SERVE Kruger formerly worked as a nurse in Kaiser Permanente.

being the person that people depended and relied on. However, with art, I can help people through the things I do natu rally, and, when it turns into something that I wouldn’t normally be doing, I can draw a firm line,” Kruger explains. Art therapy has also provided more than just a creative outlet for Kruger. The understanding she gained on the mind’s effect on the body allows her to combat her fibromyalgia today. “I’ve realized how my body reacts

Even if her work isn’t seen as valuable by the masses, Kruger says she knows that her service does not need to be defined by anyone other than herself. By living her purpose as an artist, she helps others. “When I create an art piece and it helps people then that’s fulfilling,” she says. “I realize now that if I never have a profession in a helping field, knowing that I’m creating art and being an encour agement to the people I see every day — those things are

to my emotional health,” she says. For instance, if I’m dealing with stressful situations in my household and I get a mi graine, it’s my body’s way of tell

living my purpose. I don’t need to be out there with a title to know that I have self-worth.”

SHADES OF GREEN Kruger mixes the color “Hanna’s Magnificent Mint.” She sells her handmade paints through her business A Creative Life.