The Power to Embrace
Your Authentic Self

Tegan had a difficult childhood. Mom and Dad divorced when she was little, and mom brought abusive boyfriends into the house that terrorized the whole family.

Tegan survived these adverse conditions and did well setting herself up for life. One night at a college party, Tegan got a little drunk. Boys she thought were her friends took advantage of the situation.

After that night, Tegan had trouble concentrating in school, and her grades slipped. She was plagued by terrible flashbacks and nightmares about the incident. Tegan was forced to quit college. Eventually, she started working, met her husband, and had a child.

But Tegan is still haunted by her past and has difficulty trusting men. She has horrible fights with her husband and is extremely overprotective of their daughter. She feels so overwhelmed that sometimes she just wants to get in her car, run away, and never look back.

Willow is an overachieving college student that just cannot stop worrying about her future.

When is the next paper due? Are my grades good enough? Will my family accept my boyfriend? Do I have enough money to get through this month?

This endless ruminating never stops. She can’t sleep at night and can’t concentrate during the day.

As time passes, her thoughts snowball into questioning everything. Am I good enough? Do people like me? Am I even worthy of love? Her confidence is at an all-time low, and doubt permeates everything she does. It feels hopeless.

Sophia is a middle-aged woman who seems to have it all. She married the love of her life, had two beautiful children, and is successful in her career. But somewhere along the way, she began to feel disconnected from her life.

The kids don’t need her help as often these days, and her husband is occupied with his work and achievements. A new younger energy seems to be taking over her office and affecting her productivity.

Sophia convinces herself she is a burden to those around her. She no longer finds pleasure in her disconnected life and doubts that things will ever be good again. Now, she spends more and more time in bed dwelling on the past and how good things used to be.

Tegan and I faced her traumatic past together, uncovering patterns that have dogged women in her family for generations. She was relieved to realize she didn’t need to continue this cycle.

Through our work together, Tegan was able to overcome the shame of her painful college experiences and tap into the life energy that had been held hostage by this trauma. She began to trust her husband, and they developed a deeper, more loving connection and satisfying sex life.

Tegan formed friendships with other parents, giving her the confidence to allow her daughter to participate in birthday parties, sleepovers, and sleepaway camps.

Tegan no longer wants to run from her life; now, she embraces it!

Willow and I faced the terrible storm that was building around her, causing so much anxiety.

Our work provided her with an anchor that allowed her to confront her fears head-on. Together, we questioned the reality of her fears and learned to recognize the absurdity of how unlikely most of them were ever to happen.

Willow learned to detangle destructive thoughts from genuine concerns and distinguish between the two.

Now, she no longer focuses solely on the worst-case scenario and views her future with excitement and optimism.

Sophia and I grieved the life transition she was experiencing.

Sophia felt comforted to learn that just because situations change, it doesn’t mean you’re no longer wanted, needed, or relevant.

Sophia and I practiced talking to her husband. Through a deep heart-to-heart conversation with him, Sophia realized she was still deeply loved, desperately wanted, and never a burden.

Sophia and her husband set up weekly date nights focused on connecting and discovering new and exciting experiences. She accepted her children’s independence as an acknowledgment of her successful parenting and began to rediscover her passions outside of being a parent.

As we reframed Sophia’s changes as a transition rather than an end, she was able to embrace the wisdom of years of work experience and encourage fresh perspectives without feeling threatened. Sophia no longer dwells in the past. She feels authentic and connected to the joy of this new phase of life.