The stuckness, the suffering, the exhaustion and confusion… I’ve so been there.

For years I shoved down the discomfort of frustration, loneliness, feeling like I was beating my head against a wall, screaming into an empty room, and the burnout of doing something I didn’t 1000% believe in. Until I could not.

I began to question my path and what had driven me thus far in my corporate persona of endless striving and to-do lists, self-inflicted pressure to be productive, always “busy,” over-achieving, and an emphasis on my masculine traits with a de-emphasis of feminine qualities.

I worried this predictable hamster wheel was all I would have to look back on.

As a Corporate Responsibility Director, I spent 14 years crafting my ‘dream job,’ working up to my goal salary, challenging fashion’s capitalistic systems to operate in new ways, traveling to places and meeting people who expanded my heart and my thinking. 

And yet, I didn’t feel soul-on-fire good like a dream job ‘should.’

I felt frustrated, exhausted, and like my contributions were somehow not enough.

As I began to question my life’s work’s value to me and to the world, I also began to question my sense of self - I identified strongly with my role, my achievements, my striving.

I wondered…

Who would I be without this work? Without these problems to solve? What is it I REALLY care about? How do I want to contribute? … The scary thing was, I didn’t know the answers. Or what I would do even if I did. 

And the stunning question: What if I make no changes and keep living this way? 

I was clinging desperately to my marriage for emotional support, suffocating my partner while not being available to offer much in return. I spent more intense hours at the gym every week than my body could handle in an effort to offset the stress and frustration I felt at work. When I woke up on a weekday or drove within a couple miles of the office a sickly pit in my stomach grew out of nowhere. 

I knew something had to give…But I wasn’t sure where to turn or what to do. Maybe in the same way you are feeling lost right now?

A life changing ‘ah-ha’…

One fateful supply chain trip to Southeast Asia changed everything. 

The country was Sri Lanka. The year was 2018. I challenged myself to try new things, meet new people, go to this new country. Because I intuitively knew by taking myself out of my comfort zone I would gain clarity for the unknown I felt looming in my future. 

And an epiphany saved my life. 

As I sat on the departure flight digesting that first visit (of now eight!) in my first-ever journal, a turquoise moleskin I treasure to this day, a shockingly simple - and at the same time confounding - ah-ha emerged.

In Sri Lanka I had seen myself joyful. I felt joy reminiscent of the childhood wonder and awe of playing in summertime coastal Maine tide pools with my little sister as a young girl. 

And I realised how deeply unhappy I really was.

In Sri Lanka I didn’t have to strive, achieve, win, or be a particular way. I could just be me, or begin to experience who that may be. I felt like I met for the first time - or remembered - the happiest, healthiest, most confident and free version of me. 

When was the last time you were this version of yourself? 

I realized it was only me standing in my own way, holding myself back while the keys to my self-made cage were in my pocket.

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On that flight home, I accepted a gentle invitation to my curiosity. How might I begin to live in and create from closer alignment with my purpose and values? And to be honest, at the time I didn’t even really have an idea of what that meant. 

And what I realized was I can choose to create my life differently, walk an unprescribed path in a new way and stand for and in my values every day.

I learned to get curious with my fears, hold compassion for my inner negative narratives, take responsibility for what was mine and not more, kept listening to the gravitational pull to do something new, and I began working with new mentors, coaches, and guides.

What I have now is a strong and loving partnership, a community of support, a business and a path I am proud of, a feeling of independence and fulfillment in my days, and the joy of drifting intentionally between countries.

And I’ve been supporting pioneers like you to make big shifts in the direction of what lights them up, whether that is working in a new way at the same place, bravely learning new skills and starting a new career after over a decade in one track, moving countries or states, being easier on themselves, and doing work and living lives that boldly contribute to something beyond themselves.

This is your invitation. Join us.