01/13/2026
In my twenties, I was living in Paris—launching a company, “successful” on paper, and quietly unraveling.
I lost the business.
A lifelong friendship.
And with it, my sense of who I was. Or who I thought I was…
I would stay home most of the time.
Lost my short term memory for a little while.
I would cry on the bus.
And think, I must be broken.
But it wasn’t failure.
It was my nervous system asking—loudly—for help.
For years, I had been making decisions from my ego.
Unwilling to listen, I pushed past exhaustion and called it strength.
Until my body did what it does best.
It went on strike.
That collapse taught me something I wish I’d known sooner:
stress isn’t weakness—it’s feedback.
When I stopped trying to return to who I was and started listening inward, clarity slowly returned.
The body often does the math long before the mind can explain it.
If you’ve been pushing and feel your own system starting to shut down, know this:
you’re not broken.
You may simply be making decisions from one part of yourself, while ignoring the rest.
There is another way, one that begins with pausing and listening.
I’m sharing more about this journey—and the science behind it, in a talk this Sunday in Bend (and online).
If you’d like the details, send me a DM.
You’re welcome exactly as you are!
