Hi everyone. I’ve had my head down and quiet, but trust me when I say I think about you all often. <3

I have been REALLY pulling back while I am mid-transition in careers to honor my own energy and my body, but I miss ya'll!

Here is my Turning Point Story I've drafted for this month's content. I'd love to have your thoughts.

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As a Middle School English teacher, I did my best to show up every day for my 150+ students.

However, it was a daily struggle.

While I put on a brave face for the world and people saw me as successful in all ways, the truth was I was miserable. At home, I was being abused by an intimate partner and had no vocabulary for what was happening. At work, I faced harassment from privileged parents regularly about why their children did not have A+ grades at all points in time. I was a union rep for our school which at the time had a misogynistic principal who was making sexual comments to teachers when no one else was around. And, at lunch, I had queer kids coming to me to talk about how no one understood them.

It was this last element that shifted things for me – the seeding of my future role as Queer-Spirit Guide.

At the time, I realized I could help these queer children, gay, trans, lesbian, ace, and so many other labels, simply by accepting them and being a safe space. But, this quickly turned to a desire to do more which lead me to start grad school so I could become a professional counselor.

It was a slog. While I attended grad school, I maintained my job as a full-time teacher, continued to be a union rep, and was still experiencing unnamable abuse at home. But the Universe had my back.

When it came time for my counseling internship, my personal therapist at the time recommended a local agency called Heartly House. It was a non-profit center supporting survivors of intimate partner violence (a form of domestic violence), sexual assault, and human trafficking.

Let me tell you, when I showed up for day one of my training and they went over the Wheel of Violence, my whole life turned upside down.

I finally had words for so much of what I had experienced in my young life as well as adult relationships (including professional ones). Suddenly, with this knowledge, I had more choices. More power.

I thought my choice would be empowerment. That's what I wanted. Seeing myself reflected in statistics about interpersonal violence, the impact of assault, and so many more traumas, I wanted to just shed that old skin and move on. But, I had more self-development work to do.

Shortly thereafter, I did the unthinkable and called things in my life out for what they were. A toxic relationship. An unsupportive workplace. A constant cycle of codependency, self-abandonment, and grief.

It broke me open, and I had to rebirth myself.

Over the next several years, I removed myself from the situations that kept me small and stuck. I left teaching behind completely (and got the misogynistic principal fired after an investigation from what I shared in my exit interview). I said goodbye to a man I loved intensely because he simply could not honor me the way I needed. Eventually, I even left all traditional employment to pursue entrepreneurial freedom and self-expression.

The road has not been without it's trials, and I've certainly stumbled multiple times in trying to figure out what is MINE to do rather than based on outdated societal norms and unhealthy models of overdoing.

It has taken several more years of being in the chrysalis of healing from my wounds, self-forgiveness, and cultivating compassion. Now, just under a decade after the seeds were planted for me to become the Queer-Spirit Guide, I am standing proudly in that role.

In order to be rebirthed under this new mantle, I had to experience my own dark nights, my own spiraling process of self-development, and receiving support from others such as therapists, business coaches, and other wellness professionals.

Through these experiences, I've learned to seed my desires, hold the vision, allow the wisdom to flow, and take inspired action to stay in alignment with my dreams.

Today as the Queer-Spirit Guide, I provide routine, reliable, and rhythmic rituals to drop into intention, powerful presence, and authentic self-alignment.

Will you join me on this journey?

[Insert current offer here.]