Hi there,

Hope you’re having a lovely December.

Today’s newsletter is a very personal one. I’ve been reflecting on how grateful I am to be where I am today, and a big part of that is thanks to alllll of the healing work I did over the last year. 

My burnout really forced me to face myself, and ultimately to raze everything down in order to build it back up again in a more aligned way. 

Today I’m sharing all of the modalities, books, courses and practices I used to heal myself after burning out and hitting a major rock bottom. 

We’ll talk about:

• Various healing modalities that helped me go deep and heal my past

• Resources and books that changed the way I saw myself and the world

• How I rediscovered and leaned into who I truly am 

• And… everything in between, from plant medicine to rage journaling to family therapy

Before we jump in, I’m going to be hosting a free online event in the new year about how to achieve more and burn out less in 2025. I’ve distilled down some of my biggest lessons from this healing journey into this session so you can go into the new year feeling more energetic, aligned, and joyful. Sign up here. 

🌊 Where we go deep on a topic at the intersection of entrepreneurship and personal development.

A Year of Healing

It’s been 15 months since I burned out from The GIST, and 10 months since I announced my departure from the company. The last 15 months have included some of the most heartbreaking, frustrating, disappointing, illuminating, creative, meaningful, hopeful and joyful days I’ve ever experienced. 

Ultimately my burnout was one of the biggest gifts I could’ve asked for, because it forced me to really take a look at myself, the behaviors that led to it, and the core wounds and social conditioning driving those behaviors. 

It forced me to wake up. 

And realize that I was being driven by my wounds instead of being led by my soul with a spiritual sense of what I’m here to do. 

And I simply did not want to live like that anymore. So I decided I was going to heal. I didn’t really know how… I think my inner knowing had perceived I was ready for this work for a while — that’s why I’ve always been drawn to things like yoga, spirituality, and personal development. 

But it wasn’t until my rock bottom that I was really ready to go deep, to face the things I didn’t want to look at, and to commit to the process no matter how  scary it seemed.

It’s been a hell of a journey, and I’ve tried a lotttt of stuff. I know that I wouldn’t be where I am today — in a business and a life that feels genuinely true to me — without this deep inner work.

Today, I want to open up about what exactly I did to heal from my burnout and really change my life. In case you’re feeling a call for change too.

I’m not in any way recommending you take my path, since everyone’s needs are different. But I would suggest just noticing if you feel a part of yourself perk up at anything I mention here — it could be a ping from your inner knowing that a certain modality is meant for you to try.

PART 1: ROCK BOTTOM - GRIEF & UNCERTAINTY 

The first phase of my healing was the part that came directly after hitting my rock bottom and burning out. It was a challenging phase because when you’re burnt out, your nervous system is dysregulated, you’re at the end of your emotional rope, and you often have debilitating brain fog. It can feel super frustrating, vulnerable, lonely and scary because you’re not really resourced to find a solution to your situation. I wrote more in depth about this phase here. 

Here’s what helped me the most during this time:

COACHING

I worked with Cait Donavan who specializes in burnout recovery and it was exactly what I needed, just to feel there was someone in my corner, who could help me process my emotions and thoughts around what was happening, start to shift my negativity into hope, get clear on my values, and take aligned action based on those values. She supported me through the incredibly difficult process of exiting my company.

BOOKS

• Forgiveness by Robin Casarjian. At a time when I was feeling a lot of shame, anger, and pain this was a really beautiful book about reconciliation, empowerment and love. It helped me shift out of my spiral of negative thoughts.

• Outrageous Openness by Tosha Silver. This was an easy, entertaining read on a collection of spiritual lessons, anecdotes and thoughts. It was just what I needed to start shifting from a sense of dread, pain, and hopelessness to having a more optimistic view about the universe and life. 

PART 2: FACING MYSELF

This is where I became determined to go straight to the source of my issues. It’s when I recognized that I was in part responsible for my own burnout, and that the causes were buried deep in my subconscious, my conditioning, my ways of seeing the world, the behaviors I adopted from my upbringing in order to feel safe, avoid judgment and rejection, be loved and accepted, and try to stay in control. (This is still a very much ongoing process by the way.) 

Here’s where I started:

TO BE MAGNETIC

To Be Magnetic (TBM) is a self-learning course on manifesting your dream life by unblocking your limiting beliefs and core wounds and taking values-aligned action. It incorporates hypnosis, journaling, somatics and breathwork to help you reprogram the thoughts and patterns that are keeping you stuck. Their Inner Child and Shadow Work courses especially helped me dive deep into the parts of myself that I hide from the world because I’m ashamed of them, or the parts of me that drive behaviors in my current life due to past pain, shame and programming. And their Rock Bottom course really empowered me to navigate my grief with self-compassion and grace. Compared to other healing modalities, TBM is also quite affordable at $30/month (here’s my referral link for 15% off).

INTEGRATIVE HEALING

I started working 1:1 with an incredible coach/healer/Doctor of Chinese Medicine, Margarita Rusollelo. Where TBM helped me bring awareness to past pain and blocks, Margarita helped me dive deep, see things I wasn’t seeing for myself, and start to heal on an emotional, somatic and spiritual level through a combination of coaching, acupuncture and breathwork. She’s also offered the wisdom and support I’ve needed to take brave aligned action out in the world. To be honest it’s hard for me to fully encapsulate the impact of our work together in a paragraph… but it has truly shifted so much for me and given me the courage to make changes in order to build a life that’s way more authentic to me.

FAMILY THERAPY

My healing journey has invited a lot of reflection on my upbringing, which had me feeling all sorts of ways about my family. Along with gratitude for all of the ways in which my parents were incredibly loving, supportive and provided so much, I also developed a new awareness for some of the ways in which my needs weren’t met as a kid and teen (which, by the way is normal for everyone to have — no parents or caretakers are perfect). I found it helpful to process some of this in family therapy, which has slowly started to heal a key relationship for me. I’m not going to lie, this has been, at times, a really hard process because it’s really had me going straight to my core wounds… and so it’s also been very necessary to also have support outside of the family therapy itself to help me process.

BOOKS

• The Way of Integrity by Martha Beck. I’m not kidding, this book changed the trajectory of my life. Its premise is that our suffering in life comes from being ‘out of integrity’ with our true selves. That we have a unique blueprint for our lives inside of us, but most of us get off course of the lives that are meant for us because of trauma, conditioning, and culture. The Way of Integrity offers a process that anyone can use to find integrity, a sense of purpose, emotional healing and life free of mental suffering. I could not recommend it more highly! 

• No Bad Parts by Richard Schwartz. This book is an absolute game changer by the inventor of Internal Family Systems, a transformative tool that recognizes every human as a system of inner parts. It’s a beautiful and accessible modality — if you’d like to learn more and start practicing it with yourself, check out this book. Or, you can also find practitioners trained in this method. 

PART 3: SELF-DISCOVERY

As I started to gain awareness of and heal some of my core wounds and limiting beliefs, it became easier to start to uncover my authentic self underneath all of the layers of achievement and striving to be the person I thought I needed to be to be accepted in the world. I started to genuinely believe that pursuing a life of integrity and leaning into who I authentically am is what would free me from all that kept me feeling drained, unfulfilled, and anxious. This was a fun phase, where I spent time reflecting on what it is I love, what gives me energy and purpose, and what feels joyful and fun. I wrote more in depth about this phase here. 

BOOKS

• Finding Your Own North Star by Martha Beck. I’m starting with a book since this book contained a multitude of journal prompts and exercises that really got me thinking creatively about who I uniquely am and to envision a life I would be lit up by. It planted the seeds for much of the work I did in this part of my journey.

LEANING INTO WHAT SPARKS JOY

Through reflection and journaling, I started to recognize what gives me energy: writing, designing, anything personal development related, personal relationships… and gave myself permission to start leaning into these things.

• I started writing and sharing online about my experience of burnout — initially through LinkedIn articles and then through the earliest beta version of this newsletter! 

• I signed up for a graphic design course with ilovecreatives, learned how to use design tools, conduct a brand identity process and ended up creating the brand identity for my upcoming wedding as a project for the course, and ultimately the branding for Within.

• Finally, I followed my curiosity and pings from the universe that coaching would be an aligned career for me and I signed up for Martha Beck’s Wayfinders Life Coach Training to become a certified coach. This training program has been incredibly transformational in and of itself. 

• I’ve also allowed myself to follow my pings and increase time spent on the things that spark joy or restore me outside of work — from taking DJ lessons, to reading more fiction, to pilates, yoga and sports.

PART 4: THE BODY

At a certain point, I came to understand that my healing would need to occur on a more embodied level. The journaling, mindset work, coaching and therapy were all very important, but ultimately, trauma and emotions are experienced in the body and so somatic healing was an essential piece. I also was still experiencing chronic pain in my neck and shoulders a year after burning out and was eager to find answers. It turned out it was all connected. 

RAGE JOURNALING

I came across Nicole Sachs’ work after trying everything to cure my chronic neck and shoulder pain. From physio and chiro to acupuncture and stretching, nothing worked. Until I accepted that my pain was psychosomatic in nature. I believe I had what’s called Tension Myositis Syndrome. It’s common for people who have adopted perfectionistic and people-pleasing behaviors (myself included) to have a lot of repressed emotion — resentment, shame, anger. When we stuff it down instead of dealing with it healthily, they can manifest in our body as pain or chronic illness. What eventually healed my back and neck was Nicole Sachs’s Journal Speak method, which involves 20 minutes of journaling and 10 minutes of meditation each morning. I found it helpful to also pair it with some kind of somatic release — running, screaming into a pillow, dancing, shaking, or crying. I was shocked to find my pain lessening within a few weeks and it was almost entirely absent after a couple months of this work.

SOMATIC EXPERIENCING

I had the pleasure of working in somatic experiencing sessions with Amanda Baudier. Our sessions basically involved recalling an activating event, becoming very aware of the sensations in my body in an activated nervous system state, and remaining present as my body completed its activation cycle and eventually returned to homeostasis. When we experience trauma earlier in our lives, it’s possible for our nervous systems to get stuck in activated states at the time, which can make stressful events in our current lives more distressing. This work allows you to heal that pattern of dysregulation so you can handle your life from a more regulated state. This work is incredibly impactful and if you’re someone that finds yourself in a dysregulated state often, I highly recommend this work. You can find a directory of somatic practitioners here.

PLANT MEDICINE

For years I’d been curious about the healing properties of drugs like Psilocybin, Ketamine, MDMA and Ayahuasca. I was attracted to the ability to access thoughts and memories lodged deep in the subconscious and heal core wounds, anxiety and limiting beliefs faster than with modalities like talk therapy. Ultimately I decided to try Ayahuasca, which I was told by many people was a pretty intense one to start with. But for whatever reason it called me to so I went for it. It’s still hard for me to fully be able to understand and articulate what I “got out of it”, but I definitely experienced a major release of emotion and healed on a psychosomatic level from an area I was seeking healing from. If this is something that’s calling to you, I say go for it, but I highly recommend doing a lot of research and ensuring you get a recommendation from someone you trust. 

BOOKS

• Waking The Tiger by Peter Levine (the developer of Somatic Experiencing). This is the book that allowed me to fully understand how trauma manifests in the body and that some form of somatic healing is necessary for holistic wellbeing. Before reading it I’d heard that this was the case, but after reading the book I felt fully bought in, inspired and motivated to pursue this type of healing.

PART 5: EMERGING IN INTEGRITY

I’m still very much on a healing journey and always will be, but the inner work I did this year has undoubtedly already manifested in external changes to my life, and I’m so happy about it! Ultimately I combined the activities that give me the most energy with my love of starting businesses and launched Within. And I couldn’t feel more aligned to my unique purpose and what I think I’m meant to do here. And, it also comes with its own set of blocks, struggles and limiting beliefs. 

Here’s how I’m getting support for this phase. 

COACHING

Obviously I deeply believe in coaching and decided to work with an incredible coach, Amina Altai. Our work has been a thoughtful mix of how to intentionally launch my business in an intuitive, inspired and authentic way — from formulating an aligned offering to understanding who I’m meant to serve and how to attract them — while continuing to do the healing work around core wounds and limiting beliefs that are holding me back from actualizing my goals. Amina is also a major expander for me and it’s been such a privilege and inspiration to see how she operates as a coach.

COMMUNITY

One thing I really missed when I transitioned out of The GIST was being a part of a team, connecting and collaborating with people, and being able to hold myself accountable to a group on goals and KPIs. I joined Amanda Goetz’s Office Hours to help fill that gap. It’s a community of creators, solopreneurs, coaches, and consultants that are building their own businesses alongside one another. The community has been amazing for sharpening my skills while having a group of people to problem solve with, seek feedback from, share goals with and hold myself accountable to. 

HOLISTIC HEALTH

Unfortunately I’ve still been experiencing bouts of chronic illness and fatigue and so I’ve sought out support from a functional medicine clinic that’s been helping me gain clarity and solve the root problem of these issues. I’ve been working with Parsley Health and have really appreciated their holistic approach, from in-depth testing, to having a dedicated doctor and nutritionist that have partnered with me to get my energy back.

BOOKS

• A Return to Love by Marianne Williamson. In this phase, I’ve been calling in more trust in the universe and a deepening of my spirituality and this book has been so helpful for encouraging that. It’s actually quite helped me shift my perspective and feel more hopeful about life and the universe more broadly.

And that concludes this wild healing journey! Thank you for reading to the end.

I hope that you’ll honor any pings you received about modalities or books that sparked curiosity in you. 

I promise this work, while difficult, uncomfortable and painful at times, is incredibly rewarding and life changing. 

If you think coaching is meant to be a part of your journey, I’d be honored to have a conversation with you about how we might partner together. 

And if you have any questions on any of the above don’t hesitate to reply to this email with them! 

🪞 Your turn to reflect. Take these prompts to your morning journal or talk it over with a friend or coach.

• In which area of my life am I feeling the most distance between where I want to be and where I am now?

• What do I need to heal or address to get there?

• As I read through the newsletter, which books, modalities or practices piqued my interest the most? 

• Which aspect of inner work feels the most scary to me? (This is often an indication of what we need the most).

🤿 If you want to go deeper than the deep dive, I curated these resources especially for you. <3

Listen: 

• Martha Beck on the Expanded Podcast by To Be Magnetic. This was a beautiful merging of my worlds! If you want to dip your toe in the water of both To Be Magnetic’s and Martha Beck’s work in one go, this is a great listen.

• The Cure for Chronic Pain podcast by Nicole Sachs. If your curiosity was piqued about chronic pain and the mind body connection, check out this podcast. 

Read: As mentioned above…

• Forgiveness by Robin Casarjian

• Outrageous Openness by Tosha Silver

• The Way of Integrity by Martha Beck

• No Bad Parts by Richard Schwartz

• Finding Your Own North Star by Martha Beck

• Waking The Tiger by Peter Levine 

• A Return to Love by Marianne Williamson

• 1:1 Coaching: If you want to go into 2025 with more energy, ease and alignment you can book a 30-minute strategic coaching consultation to explore working with me.

• Let’s be friends: If you want to see the BTS of building Within and receive more tips and ideas on building with integrity, connect with me on LinkedIn and Instagram.

Or meet me over zoom at my upcoming event.

If you experienced any sort of overwhelm, anxiety, self-doubt, loneliness or disconnection while building in 2024, this event is for you.

I’ll break down actionable advice for how to achieve success in 2025 with more ease, alignment, and without burning out.

Sign up here.

This is the last newsletter of the year since I’ll be taking the holidays off!

Hope you have a beautiful and restful holiday season and new year. I’ll see you back here on January 7th.

With love,
Roslyn 💚