My Learning Journey

I’ve taken dead-end roads, tripped into potholes & sinkholes, and then got back up on my feet, dusted myself off and found my way forward – many times. Each time, learning important life-lessons, building resilience & taking incremental steps towards creating a personal & professional life I truly LOVE. 

Like everyone does in early adulthood; I unconsciously acted out my childhood beliefs & habits as I set out to create a successful & happy life.

By my mid-twenties, from the outside looking in, I’d achieved tremendous personal & professional success. I had met many of my goals ahead of schedule. However, I wasn’t feeling very successful or happy. I was feeling stressed, anxious & depressed. I went to the doctor, got some meds and continued doing what I knew how to do, focusing my attention on the next goal on my life plan – kids before 30.

Soon I would learn, that MY plan wasn’t going to be THE plan for my life.

Within days of discovering I was pregnant, I wasn’t. Lacking the life skills to process this experience, I did what I learned to do early in my life when I felt emotional pain: kept it to myself; stuffed it so deeply down it was safely out of reach; rationalized the situation; upheld the illusion that everything was fine and kept myself busy & distracted with work. Only, this time it didn’t work. I searched for and found some stress management strategies that helped me manage my anxiety and function at work and at home.

Then in a short period of time, my world turned upside down. First a management/culture change at work turned my dream career into – what felt like – a living nightmare. Next, a diagnosis of unexplained infertility. Lastly, some information was shared with me, that left me questioning everything I knew to be true about my life. By the age of 27, I was: in full-blown job burn-out (yes, its real) that led to a sick-leave followed by a resignation from a job/career I once loved; experiencing a constant state of anxiety & terrifying panic attacks; and, in treatment for a major depressive episode – I didn’t think I would ever recover from. I had  completely lost my mojo and couldn’t see a way forward.

Once the dark black hole I was in became a lighter shade of grey, I was determined to find out what the hell just happened. Mostly because, I wanted to make sure it NEVER happened again. I started reading every self-help book that seemingly jumped off the shelf and into my hands. One of the first books I read, helped me realize that THIS was a wake-up call. MY wake-up call. And now, I had the choice to answer it. My answer was a resounding HELL YES! I knew, in the very core of my being, that if I was going to live a healthy & fulfilling life, I needed to answer this call by learning how to live differently. My QUEST began..

Fast forward several more pot-holes & lots of HARD (yet oh so worth it!) inward work. The outcome was a crystal-clear vision of what a successful life looked like to me: I was going to live a simple, peaceful, quiet life; with, healthy relationships and a career that allowed me to utilize my innate talents & gifts to make a meaningful difference in people’s lives. I honestly didn’t know how the hell I was going to do it – I just knew it felt right. 

I leveraged my management experience to transform my vision into my reality, coaching myself through the process of creating change. I started by setting clear goals and taking aligned action in every area of my life. This included the difficult task of walking away from some previous major life choices & goals – I no longer could deny – were out of alignment and unhealthy for me.

With a lot of conscious effort & more hard work, within a few years of declaring my vision of success to the universe – it became my reality. I had proof that when you aspire to what you really want, truly believe it is possible and take aligned action to create it – “it” will materialize, likely even better than you envisioned. (This 3-step process is SO powerful, it is the foundation of all my coaching / mentoring programs and workshops).

I didn’t stop there. With solid ground beneath me, I started an even deeper inward journey. A journey I knew I had to take if I was going to get out of my own way and bring what I’d learned to others. Through a continuous focus on self-discovery; self-development; self-care and eventually healing (I didn’t even know I needed); I found my mojo, & developed the confidence & courage I needed to realize my human & leadership potential & fulfill my dreams.

 Along the way, I used every self-help resource that resonated with me and was humble enough to ask for help. I invested significant time developing new ways of thinking, being, feeling and doing & thousands of $ to continually work with talented professionals & gifted practitioners to whom I am so very grateful. Investing in ME is the best investment I’ve ever made. 

 As my life path unfolds, this investment is what helps me navigate life’s ups & downs with ease & grace. It’s what inspires me to fall in love – more everyday – with the life I have created. It’s also, what motivates me to help others – who are ready – to learn, heal, grow and thrive.