I’m a Coach, Mama, Widow, and a Lover of Life.
Where to start my story? I am so grateful for my messy beautiful life in Encinitas, where we spend most of our time outside and at the beach. I’m passionate about living my best life and serving others who want to create change in their lives.
Where I am today is a gift, resulting from being widowed suddenly at 36. Yes a gift. My life completely turned upside down and forever changed one afternoon when my husband did not come home from work. We had just moved into our dream house, I was 9 mo pregnant, and mama to a 1yo. I lost my husband, best friend, father to our children, our home, his company, my confidence and my voice. It was so devastating to me, that at first I only could go on for the sake of my children. Trauma and grief tore me apart, isolated me, and made me lose all faith in myself. But I knew in the depths of my heart that one day I would be okay – better than okay – again. And today my life is better than I could ever imagine.
It started with one small step. And I took millions of baby steps after that. I got up every morning. I took care of my babies. I sold our house. I moved across the country to live with my mom. I spent time sitting with my grief and sorrow, laughing with my babies, and finding myself again. The duality of sitting with the pain and joy is where I became more alive. I worked with amazing therapists and coaches. My thoughts and actions started to shift. Ultimately I changed by slowly moving forward while also honoring who I had been and loving who I was in that moment. With grief came the gift of reassessing what was important to me. Feeling such deep lows of pain and sadness and anger, also opened me to feel and appreciate greater highs of joy and love and laughter. I became more compassionate, less judgmental. I shifted my outlook on life, changed my lifestyle to better nutrition, movement, sleep, purpose, mindfulness, positive mindset, community, and higher spirit. It took SO MUCH WORK, to sit with all the awful stuff instead of running away from it. Being patient, slowing down, feeling like every step forward led to three steps backward. It was scary to change in so many ways, and leave my old self and old life behind. But honoring, grieving, and letting go of what was – unlocked and opened a life better than I could even imagine.
I’m an only parent to two boys, so yes my life is messy, but I love it. I am grateful beyond words for the abundance of love surrounding us. I take a step back to marvel at the chaos and laugh. I constantly remind myself that it’s all going to be okay and that I have everything within me to get where I want to go. To lead from love and not from fear. To not only be strong, but be brave. Laugh a lot, if it’s going to be funny in five years, it might as well be funny now. All my failures (and they are constant) are just a stepping stone to my successes (and they are many). I’m far from perfect, but I’m finally enjoying the hard work and bliss of the journey, rather than being focused solely on the destination.
And I am so much more than my story and my past. It has gotten me here, but it does not define me and who I can become. In my past, I traveled the world (every continent except Antarctica), worked for National Geographic, lived in Uganda and Brazil, was a high school teacher, taught spin and kids yoga, started my own business to help manage small businesses, and started investing in real estate. I am a daughter, mom, partner, friend, and coach. I live for sunshine, time in nature, tough workouts, delicious food, learning, laughter, and cuddles with my guys. I love that space of possibility between what’s comfortable but no longer serving you and the excitement/fear of what could be. I am excited to wake up every day and see what happens. And I believe you can live your best life, starting by loving and honoring exactly where you are today.