My Story

For fifteen years I’ve taken annual personal retreats that began with me answering the questions:

Who am I?

Where am I going?

What are my priorities?

What do I want this time next year?

These retreats and the intentional focus have been largely successful in making me into the person I am today. Given my ADHD, as I have since discovered, my achievements and successes would have been much more difficult had I not had this annual retreat in place. I stuck to these yearly adventures as they were the most important events in my life. Once they were on my calendar, they were unmovable. When I began to see progress, I added quarterly retreats. During these weekend retreats, I would hold space for myself. Meaning I would focus on how I was feeling, what I needed to add to my life, what I needed to eliminate, and how I could be a better me.

During one of my last years in Houston, I took my annual retreat and had an entire year planned. As before, my goals were set, my quarters were planned, the next months and weeks were scheduled. That was the year I rediscovered and fell in love with my now-husband who lived in Philadelphia. I  crafted a plan to achieve my longstanding dream (10 years!) of moving to my favorite city on the east coast – Philadelphia.

By the following year, my internal transfer was approved, and I moved to Philadelphia. Within the next 2 years, I got engaged, started a different job with a new company, planned a wedding, got married, and built a vacation home on the lake, all while traveling 75% of the time across the US and Canada.

As I settled in, I realized I was still struggling. I couldn’t figure out why. I was married to my best friend who made me laugh every single day. I was making good money, I was traveling and seeing new places. I was building my networking and making new friends. What was wrong?

By disrupting my life on so many levels in such a short amount of time, I lost who I thought I was.

I had lost my meaning

I had lost my voice

I had lost my ME

Moving to Philly had brought me personal fulfillment - and my husband. Our love and friendship for each other is something I had never imagined possible until him, and I am so incredibly lucky to share this life with him.

My voice, however, had continued to lower until it was a bare whisper. I was weary, burnt-out, and unexcited with my entire professional career. Leaving the corporate world instantly improved my mood. However, leaving an industry where I had spent the previous 15 years was difficult. More losses. Lost connections, lost friendships, lost routines, and lost events. I was stagnant. Then I took an annual life planning retreat. I started asking myself harder questions.

Who am I?

Where am I going?

What are my priorities?

What do I want this time next year?

Why am I living this life?

What is this all for?

I found myself not knowing the answers to these questions. I used to be VP of Sales. I used to be focused on promotions and the next opportunities. My priorities also shifted. I’m married, living in a new part of the country, with a local vacation home, with different friends and within a different community. Who am I now?

I needed to change my thinking to really understand myself and to be able to answer those questions.

I have spent the last 18 months on a transformative experience of unpacking who I thought I was and finding my real voice. 

• Learning how my habits, routines, and structures are a necessary part of my life and need to be incorporated in all that I do. 

• Embracing my strengths and learning to ask for help when I need support. 

• Learning to be compassionate with myself and practice self-care every day.

Leveraging my life experiences, personal discoveries, professional training, and background, I have enhanced my original life plan template and developed the O.P.E.N. Your Purpose program. This program is meant to guide you through finding your life’s purpose and align with your authentic self.

There are four parts of the program: 

OPTIMIZE your strategies, environment, habits, and time; 

create a PLAN of action with the end in mind; 

EMPOWER yourself to live your plan; and 

NURTURE your mind, body, and soul.

This program is meant to guide you through any of life’s changes or shifts and help you become the best YOU that you are meant to be.

Find your purpose and live in alignment with your authentic self!