The Introduction

It has been weighing on me awhile - the need to share my story. I haven’t acted, haven’t reignited my blog, for whatever reason, until now. Partly an apprehension regarding being too cliche. Fear is likely the biggest part. Once you get out there, you can’t hide anymore.

But all paths seem to have been leading to this. From the beginning of the year, the trajectory of my life has moved slowly toward exposure. New Year’s Day marked my first panic attack of the year. I spent almost 11 hours huddled on the couch trying to breathe. And that was before the pandemic.

I took several courses - the Knowledge Broker Blueprint with Tony Robbins and Dean Graziozi. A Story Skills workshop with Bernadette Peters and Seth Godin. A Professional Life Coach certification. I was hungry for knowledge, and tools, and personal growth. And all of these courses and trainings confirmed a few things. One, I am as passionate as ever about the power of story. Two, being part of a community is one of the most valuable things anyone can do for staying confident and committed to anything. And three, if there’s anything I feel I am meant to be doing, it’s coaching.

I used to have a blog. I used to write about my daughter when she was born, using it as a journal that validated my experiences and gave me my outlet. It allowed me to be a writer without actually needing a publisher, or an audience, for that matter.

I always wanted to be a writer (coaching and creating). A Writer with a capital “W”. Plagued with every artist’s inner critic, I never deemed myself part of that exceptional elite. Coaching was the same. Who the hell was I to have authority over someone else’s life?

But after this year, it has become clear. The world needs our stories, our creativity, our unique voice. We are all flailing to some degree, lost in uncertainty. Lost in the noise of the world - without a map, looking everywhere for connection, something that resonates and makes us feel like we have a grip on something real, even if it is just real to one other person.

This project is my own little attempt at connection, and clarity, and coaching, if only for myself. We need encouragement, not answers. We need clarity, not conformity. We need to write our own rulebook, but we need to bounce our experiences off of others so we can see the light, find what we agree upon and what we don’t, and let our answers be our own.

My resolutions are the same - lose weight, get in shape, be kinder, more patient, less judgmental, more present, more playful. Don’t work so hard, but make your work count. All that stuff. But I want something to stick. I want to really investigate what works. I want to bounce my own experiences of how these strategies can play out off of others, testing the waters where theory and practice converge.

Change is inevitable. Joy is optional. Allowing it in is the secret.