How My Childhood OCD Taught Me the Foundations of Holistic Healing & Leadership

This is me, aged 11. Anxious, driven, and already carrying a weight I didn’t have words for yet.

From as early as I can remember, I’ve had a fire in my belly — a need to achieve, to be more, to rise above average. But what looked like “drive” on the outside was often my way of managing what I couldn’t explain on the inside.

By the age of eight, I was diagnosed with Trichotillomania - a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder that caused me to pull out my hair. Eyelashes, eyebrows, even patches from my scalp - all gone. I didn’t know why I did it. I just knew I couldn’t stop.

For years, I hid bald spots with hats, clever hairstyles, and excuses. I avoided parties and school camps. I carried shame like a second skin. Back then, no one talked about “anxiety.” You were either coping, or you weren’t.

And if you weren’t, the fix was external: medication, therapy, or distraction.

But deep down, I knew something more was needed.

Movement as My First Medicine

One psychiatrist saw something others didn’t. Alongside journaling and therapy, he gently introduced a different kind of solution: Tae-Kwon-Do.

Martial arts didn’t just get me moving - it gave me something my system had been craving: a sense of grounded control.

Through breathwork and discipline, I began to feel something I hadn’t felt in years: safe. Present. Capable.

I wasn’t just earning belts - I was reclaiming ownership of my body and mind. In that dojo, I began to recognize the early signs of panic. I learned to respond rather than react. And slowly, almost miraculously, I stopped pulling out my hair.

Not because I was “fixed” - but because my body no longer needed that outlet.

That was my first lesson in nervous system regulation — though I didn’t have the language for it then.

Healing Isn’t Linear - And Neither is Life

Fast forward a few decades. That anxious child grew into a woman working in high-stakes environments — medical, corporate, and government. I was often the one making critical decisions under pressure, juggling professional responsibility with personal challenges and, eventually, motherhood.

And just like that, anxiety resurfaced.

But this time, I had tools. I had awareness. And this time, I had yoga.

Where martial arts gave me power through structure, yoga invited me into softness, surrender, and deep nervous system work. It started as a physical practice, but quickly became a way of life — integrating kriya, breathwork, somatic awareness, and a new lens on healing.

It became clear: this wasn’t just my path — it was my medicine.

The Unexpected Gift of Struggle

If I hadn’t pulled out my hair as a kid...

If I hadn’t burned out in my 30s...

If I hadn’t felt like I was drowning under the weight of “doing it all”...

I wouldn’t have been forced to slow down.

To listen.

To reconnect.

To rewire.

And I certainly wouldn’t have built a business that helps other women do the same.

Society doesn’t reward stillness. It rewards performance — at any cost.

But what I’ve learned is this:

• Your ability to stay regulated in the storm is the real flex.

And that’s what I now teach inside my coaching practice and digital programs — not just how to build a successful business, but how to do it without abandoning yourself in the process.

Why Mothers Are at the Heart of My Work

So many of the women I work with - especially mothers - are exhausted from playing all the roles.

They’re smart. Accomplished. Often holding up entire families, businesses, or both.

But they’re stuck in a loop of overdoing, overthinking, and overriding their own needs.

They want freedom - time, energy, financial spaciousness - but they’ve been taught to earn it through struggle.

Here’s what I tell them:

• Your body already knows the way.

• You just need a new map - one that includes your nervous system, your intuition, and your lived experience as your most valuable assets.

The Inner Architect: Where Health Meets Wealth

That’s why I created The Inner Architect - a methodology and platform that brings holistic health and leadership together.

It’s not just about business strategy. It’s about building a life and business from the inside out:

• Grounded in nervous system regulation

• Fueled by intuition

• Designed around your family, your energy, and your values

Because when you feel safe, clear, and confident - you make more aligned decisions. You create with more impact. And you stop bleeding time, energy, and money trying to be something you’re not.

This is how we move from surviving to architecting a life that’s sustainable.

Breath, Movement & Self-Return

The most powerful tools I use — and teach — are deceptively simple:

• Nervous system regulation to calm the mind and signal safety to the body

• Movement, intuitive or structured, to reconnect with self

• Rituals like journaling, bathing, dancing, or walking barefoot to return home to who you are

These aren’t indulgences — they are strategies.

Because your business, your health, and your family all benefit when you are connected to yourself.

This is what I call Self-Leadership...... and it’s the foundation of everything I teach.

From Personal Pain to Collective Power

The little girl with bald spots…The woman navigating burnout…The mother juggling spreadsheets and sleepless nights…

They all live inside me. And they’ve all taught me the same thing:

• Every challenge is an invitation to uncover the next version of yourself.

And now? I help other women uncover theirs.

Let’s Rewire Your Reality Together

If you’re feeling stuck, anxious, or just know there’s more out there for you — this is your invitation to begin again.

Gently. Strategically. Intuitively.

• Start here: Take the Get Unstuck Quiz to discover your personal growth path

• Go deeper: Explore how you can change your reality..... and you CAN experience your dreams 

• Want 1:1 support? Grab yourself a coffee and lets chat!

You don’t need to be “better than anyone!!!.” You just need to feel safe to be you.