“Owning our story can be hard but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it.” ~Brené Brown What is the exact point when you realize you are in a toxic relationship? For me, it was a process that took almost a year. I thought I was mindful and “awake.” I did have an internal dialogue with myself, but I had a thick layer of deception around me. Today, I call it a fog because I’m on the other side, and I see much more clearly. Looking back, I see that my inner voice was guiding me ..read more

“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.” ~Anne Lamott I used to believe that success meant always being available. Always saying yes. Always responding immediately to emails, Slack pings, texts, whatever was thrown my way. Because if I stopped—even for a second—I might fall behind. And if I wasn’t working harder than everyone else, was I even working hard enough? For years, that mindset worked. Or so I thought. Every win, every promotion, every new milestone felt like adding fuel to the fire. The more I ‘succeeded’ by society’s standards—the title ..read more

Honestly, it’s hard to believe I’m at the age for perimenopause. I feel young in many ways, despite the exhaustion of parenting two young kids. And I’ve always felt somewhat eternal, doing whatever I want to do at any age, without regard for what other people think or believe. But here I am—forty-five, dealing with all kinds of hormone-related symptoms, including brain fog, mood swings, and most recently, anemia from heavy bleeding. I haven’t yet experienced most of the physical issues that plague many women at midlife, like hot flashes (fun!), sleep disturbances, and weight gain. But I’m dee ..read more

“Confidence comes not from always being right but from not fearing to be wrong.” ~Peter T. McIntyre I used to think of confidence as something external, something that people exuded in their body language, in the way they spoke, or in the certainty of their decisions. To me, a confident person had a poker face and a strong, grounded posture. I thought confidence was something you cultivated through endless practice—training yourself to speak with assertiveness and decisiveness, to project certainty even when you didn’t feel it inside. But I’ve come to understand that true self-confidence is s ..read more

“Chance made us colleagues. Fun and laughter made us friends.” ~Unknown  A year into my new job, I realized that the hardest part wasn’t the complexity of the work—it was the culture. The office felt like a maze of silos, each person isolated in their corner. The hierarchy was more than just a structure—it was something everyone was constantly reminded of. I was used to navigating high-pressure, competitive environments, but this one was different. As a woman in STEM, I had learned early on to keep my personal life separate from my work life. This boundary helped me maintain control ..read more

“The wound is the place where the Light enters you.” ~Rumi In 2011, my world shattered. My mother passed away, and with her, the fragile scaffolding that held my life together. It wasn’t just grief. It was as if her death unearthed a deep well of pain I had been carrying for years. Looking back, I can see that I was living with complex PTSD (cPTSD), though I didn’t have the language for it at the time. cPTSD is a condition that often results from prolonged exposure to trauma, leaving deep emotional scars. It manifests as a constant state of ..read more

“Contentment has more to do with a heart of joy as life unfolds than it ever will with a life filled with stuff.” ~Kate Summers Recently, an older friend who was no longer able to attend to life without assistance was placed in a senior care facility. From my observance, she seemed content, and her relatives confirmed that when they visit, they find her awake and alert, propped up in bed or sitting in a chair, peacefully gazing out her window. One of my immediate thoughts when reflecting on my visit was, we should all be so lucky to enter ..read more

“Listen to the wind, it talks. Listen to the silence, it speaks. Listen to the heart, it knows.” ~Native American Wisdom Have you ever felt stuck? Stuck in a business you’ve lost passion for, a job you no longer enjoy, a relationship that no longer fulfills you, or simply stuck in indecision about how to move forward in life? That feeling of “stuck-ness” often leads to anxiety, fear, and even shame. I understand these feelings well. When the pandemic hit in 2020, my life turned upside down—as it did for many. I was the founder and executive director ..read more

The most profound personal growth happens when we stop running from our pain and start listening to what it’s trying to teach us. For years, I didn’t recognize the woman staring back at me in the mirror. Her body felt foreign—betraying her with weight she couldn’t lose, hot flashes that set her skin on fire, and exhaustion so deep, it felt like her soul was crumbling. Her mind, once sharp and confident, was now clouded with doubt, anxiety, and brain fog so thick she could barely think. But the hardest part? She didn’t just feel different. She felt invisible. I ..read more

“I’ve found beauty in the whimsically ordinary.” ~Elissa Gregoire The pervasive message of our time asserts that success is essential in every facet of life, be it education, career, friendships, or relationships. In the relentless pursuit of success, many of us toil ceaselessly, ingrained with the belief that triumph is the gateway to happiness. Rewind three decades to when I was ten, and the emphasis was on excelling in school. Family, teachers, and even movies emphasized the narrative that good grades equated to happiness. The equation was simple: good grades led to a good job, financial s ..read more