"I asked myself, if I wasn't fulfilled, how could my children be?"

Hi, I’m Melissa and my life used to look and feel a lot like yours does, I’d always wanted to get married, have the two and a half kids, the white picket fence – that whole TV family fantasy. 

Once I achieved all this,I’ll never forget waking up two years after my second child was born thinking:

Who am I?

Where did I go?

I’d checked all the boxes but somehow lost myself in the process. Instead of being happy, I felt trapped under my own and society’s expectations of what a mother should look like, be like, do.

At that point, I asked myself:

If I wasn’t fulfilled, how could my children be?

Over the next few years, I sought counselling and coaching.  I’d always been into personal transformation, but this was deeper work.

I learned how to set boundaries and take time for myself. I learned to take responsibility for the choices I was making. I learned to ask for help and I let go of the anxiety I’d struggled with for most of my life.

Most importantly, I reconnected with and freed myself.

Today, my relationship with my husband and my children – now ages 10, 7 and 2– has improved significantly.

I’m not perfect but I show up more authentically, I’m true to myself, and I feel good about the way I’m modeling that for my kids.