A Little About My Journey

I don’t remember choosing to silence myself. That’s the thing about survival strategies—we don’t choose them. Our nervous system does, in service of our survival. I grew up where threats were real and fear was constant. Safety and emotional flexibility weren’t felt experiences for me. My body stayed tense, alert and hyper-attuned to everyone else. I became the caretaker, monitoring moods and energy in an effort to feel safe. That level of hyper-vigilance helped me feel more in control, and for a time, it worked. Until it didn’t. What once protected me, eventually kept me feeling stuck, exhausted, disconnected from the inherent wisdom of my emotions and slowly disappearing from others and my authentic self.

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As I got older, I tried to fix externally what I didn't yet know how to regulate internally. I poured myself into social justice and community organizing, believing that if the world were safer, I would finally feel safe within. I worked hard. I cared deeply. And I burned out—again and again—without understanding why insight, passion and purpose weren’t enough.

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What I hadn’t yet learned was this: a felt sense of safety can’t exist when the nervous system is stuck in a survival loop long after any immediate threat has passed. Learning to recognize my emotional states in real time and updating my nervous system back into safety and flexibility, allowed my body to release what it had been holding for decades. As safety returned, so did access to my emotions, my body, my heart and my authentic self.

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Burnout, overwhelm, and shutdown no longer shape how I move through the world. Learning to listen to my emotions—to feel them in my body and trust the wisdom they carry—shifted my relationship with myself at its core. Today, I live more openly, more courageously, more authentically—not because I never get activated, but because I know how to attune to myself and return my nervous system to safety and regulation more quickly and compassionately. This inner flexibility and presence allows me to show up fully and authentically in all areas of my life. 

And this is the place I work from—supporting others in reclaiming safety within, so they can return to living in their present-day core self rather than feeling stuck in a survival state. If this resonates, I invite you to connect. Together, we can support your process of returning to safety, presence and authenticity.