I’d love to tell you that “The Gentle Life” was born in a manner that closely resembles its name. But it was not. Perhaps, true to form like most things that are meant to truly challenge the status quo or usher in a new era, it was birthed from a rather cataclysmic series of events. And this is how it came to be that I found myself trading my four-inch-high corporate stilettos after 21 years, for gently walking barefoot on the earth, and sharing ways for you to do the same for your journey.
Sitting on the threshold of transition into my next chapter, my personal healing journey from burnout was long, arduous, and mostly hard. But it ultimately led to a deep longing for me to return to living a much simpler, more attuned, and gentle life.
And although onerous at times, the process of healing was distinctly powerful. Just looking around me, I was so sure there were thousands, if not millions, more people like me in the world, and I felt intensely drawn towards working with people in a way that could help them look inside themselves too.
I started to envision a world where others suffering from burnout or feeling disillusioned with life could become more connected to themselves and more in tune with what truly matters in this life. I wanted anyone who was searching to know that this was possible — to shift to wholehearted living, just as I had experienced. I dreamed about returning to my childhood creative adventures, and I saw everything that filled me with enthusiasm — writing, storytelling, massage, making things, plants, and the outdoors.
And while I started toying with ideas of what I would do during my “Next,” to be honest, it’s more like the ideas seemed to come looking for me, calling from some magical place.
All of it felt like a calling. And so was born The Gentle Life – an offering of Coaching, practicing Original Medicine, and storytelling through writing.
I came to find meaning and purpose in all that I had experienced, so that I may walk as a friend alongside others on our journey through life. To walk as a friend, so that you don’t have to reach that distressing place like I had. That place where you’re hitting the floor, buckled over in a messy pile of panic and anxiety or unable to muster up the energy to get out of bed to face another day.
Now, our mission is to create safe spaces where we can become truly vulnerable and, through coaching, tell the stories that have shaped us and changed us in some fundamental way. Then, we work to heal ourselves so that we can retell those stories, having removed the shame from them as we create a new narrative for our lives.
From Gentle us, to Gentle you… welcome to living more gently with yourself.