While I am proud of my education and work experience, I feel that my greatest accomplishment is leaving the beaten path and living on the aligned path. I’d like to share a bit of my story with you. I was born the middle of 9 children to my biological mother who carried many emotional wounds that translated into poor choices and difficulty caring for her children. Child Protective Services became involved in my life at 12 days old resulting in being in foster care at 4 months old and ultimately being adopted at 13 months old by the only family I have ever known. 

 

While my family provided a nurturing and supportive environment (I couldn’t have handpicked a better family!), my early life experiences shaped my attachment style and personality. I tended to be anxious and insecure, and my primary trauma response was to fawn aka ‘people-please.’ This early experience gifted me with a sharpened sensitivity and an acute intelligence, both of which were adaptive yet also reinforcing of the people-pleasing behaviors. 

 

Along the way, I had glimpses that there had to be more than the beaten path that I was on, but I didn’t have the knowledge, the tools, nor the courage to step off it. Ultimately, grief was my biggest teacher as 4 dearly significant family members and my beloved pug passed on in a matter of 5 years. I was brought to my knees and went into a deep-dive spiritually, which was the impetus for making peace with my journey. This led to healing my inner wounds and finding out who I am under all of the trauma responses and social conditioning. In true Scorpio fashion, I rose from the ashes as the most beautiful phoenix and have been on the aligned path ever since. 

 

Carl Jung coined the archetype of a wounded healer wherein the person who seeks to help others has been wounded themselves.  For the wounded healer to be most effective in helping others, one must have healed some of her previous wounds. I can say with the greatest confidence that living on the aligned path myself along with my professional experience make me the most equipped to guide you off of the beaten path and on to the aligned path.