When I turned 13, the world threw me a growth edge in the form of a significant loss that completely overwhelmed me. Without any skills to manage my grief, I focused all of my energies on shutting down feelings and on over-achieving in sports and in the classroom. Ultimately, I relied solely on masculine forms of “coping”: I taught myself how to be hyper-independent, competitive, perfectionistic, sarcastic, and stoic. While my blind pursuit for achievement garnered me some big trophies and amazing academic opportunities, my invulnerability ultimately rendered me numb inside.
When a career ending injury in college eventually took away my ability to play basketball (my faithful drug of choice), I could no longer run away from my grief. This second growth edge forcefully took away my armor and put me in direct contact with my feelings for the first time. From that space, I thankfully began to experience the powers of vulnerability first hand, which I now know to be our greatest strength.
In my professional realm, I am passionate about offering clients an effective alternative to “armoring up” and “soldiering on” through life. Deeply motivated by my values of health, courage, and relationships, I am privileged to join with people who are interested in learning how to engage and transform their pain and fear into healing, connection, and joy. My work has always been an invaluable vocation and source of great inspiration for me.
As a wife and a mother to 3 energetic boys, I stay very active in my personal life. I balance the physical energy of my parenting with yoga, writing, and meditation. I also enjoy being in nature, traveling, exploring, and reading. I have been married for 20 years and am very grateful to have my best friend as my life partner and confidante. Because our family accepts that our lives are not perfect, we get to experience the sustaining intimacy that connection without armor affords. It certainly makes for an amazingly messy and incredibly rewarding life!
"Character- the willingness to accept responsibility for one's own life - is the source from which self-respect springs." -Joan Didion