Blog

I’ve been in therapy since 2015.  I’ve had a coach since 2018.  Both have been indispensable. In therapy I gained labels and language to understand my past experiences. I learned to identify my relational and emotional patterns, and released a lot of built up pain from the past. From receiving coaching, I saw there were […]

Personal Growth

Therapy or Coaching?

I realize this is heretical for a coach to say, but I have a bone to pick with “self care.” For a long time, I was dutifully checking all the “self care” boxes: eating healthily, going to therapy, taking walks, journaling, acupuncture, the whole nine yards.  I was also resentful the whole time.  I was […]

Personal Growth

The Self Care Trap

Imagine you’re sitting in a car, wanting to take a road trip to the destination of your dreams. But the following things are true: You’re sitting in the passenger seat You don’t know how a car works You don’t know where you want to end up You don’t know how to read road signs You […]

Career, Personal Growth

The Road Trip

It was a beautiful, sunny Sunday morning and I was limping through the streets of Madrid. I had just rolled my ankle badly and heard a loud snap. I was miles away from the nearest metro station and over an hour from my homestay.  My foot was rapidly swelling to the size of a grapefruit […]

Personal Growth

Asking For Help

I remember the scene clearly: I was sitting on the floor of my walk-in closet with the door closed behind me, light off, staring at a candle, and suddenly starting to implode. This was my first ever attempt at meditating. (I’d read about the candle thing somewhere as an easy way to keep yourself focused. […]

Personal Growth

When Meditation Makes It Worse

Once, stuck in a crazy-making role early in my career, my best work friend and I invented a game I called the “margarita clock.” We sat down at our desks at 8 am sharp every morning, and we’d see how long we could make it before we felt the intense urge to drink a margarita […]

Career, Personal Growth

The Way Forward

You don’t owe anyone your story. We are living in an unprecedented period that incentivizes hyper-personal, nonstop sharing about ourselves. Vulnerability, with its many benefits, is finally having its moment – and thank goodness for that. It also, though, creates pressure for some folks to feel like they have to disclose every painful detail of […]

Career, Personal Growth

You Don’t Owe Anyone Your Story

I used to think my job was to protect people from difficult feelings and take away their discomfort by any means possible. I was the sponge, the buffer, the mediator, the anticipator and pre-emptor of awkwardness and pain. It took too many years to realize that, not only was that approach robbing me of my […]

Career, Personal Growth

The Emotional Sponge

“I know my anxiety is taking a toll on me, but it’s what makes me more productive than everyone else. It’s the reason I’ve gotten so far in my career.” – Every client I’ve ever had Yes, anxiety can produce some results very quickly, but it’s not sustainable. The truth is, anxiety is a really […]

Career, Personal Growth

Driven by Anxiety

For most of my life, I was so afraid of making a mistake that I wouldn’t even attempt things I knew I wouldn’t be great at on the first try. I did an A+ job of insulating myself from any situations that would expose me to embarrassment or lack of control. I may have looked […]

Career, Personal Growth

Fear of Failure