I grew up a very anxious child, afraid of my own shadow, teachers, schoolwork…
Which translated into a very anxious worker as I moved into my 20’s and 30’s.
Early in my career, I was highly sensitive and found stress in the tiniest of things like...the boss doesn’t like the way I made the coffee.
Stress increased as I overanalyzed situations, worried about deadlines and outcomes, and attempted to please everyone I interacted with.
Clients had needs that I needed to satisfy, business events were multidimensional and had demanding deadlines and opportunities to perform with perfect precision, important decisions needed to be made, but I always feared I would make the wrong one.
Action…Inaction…everything I did or didn’t do led to ruminating, worrisome thoughts, which contributed to my overwhelming and chronic stress.
Then, in my late 30’s, another stressor arrived…
Enter: Infant!
To think that my work life had tipped the stress scales to an unbearable degree, I was now adding to it the tremendous stress that comes with raising a child as a successful, busy, working mother!
As soon as she was born, I held her in my arms, looked into her eyes, and was immediately in awe. I never wanted to put her down. She was amazing. Then…
The sleepless nights, the merging of two full time jobs (work and motherhood), the added tasks that piled up at home (laundry, bottles, pumping…)…
A couple of years into being a stressed-out and exhausted working mother, my husband and I were presented with the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to move to the city of our dreams, so of course we jumped at the chance.
However, this dream move turned out to be the climax of a life lived with chronic stress…
I learned that, with the move, the work I was doing would have to end, along with my financial security…
I’d have to find new work, new clients, a new school for our little one with hours that would allow me to continue working long, hard hours…
With the stress of work-life, mom-life, and the move, it was too much…and on top of that, I received a completely unexpected (and at the time, scary) health diagnosis…
My stress was at an all time high, my health was failing, and I was on the verge collapse…of giving up…
Something had to change…
And sure enough, by sheer luck or divine intervention, at the exact moment I needed it most,
I found…