My Personal Path

My life has been a series of fortunate and unfortunate events—perhaps book-worthy. What comes to mind is music. Music has always helped heal me. I processed my inner world through music and art from a young age: singing, listening, interpreting lyrics, playing organ and saxophone, drawing, painting, and building/crafting.

Along my path, I moved away from my soul calling and pursued what was often perceived as the more practical path. After finishing high school and aging out of Air Cadets, I left home at 18 and went to college to become a dental assistant. While working three jobs—one being dental assisting—I put myself through university, studying Geography, History, Political Science, and completing a Bachelor of Education. This made me the first woman/person in my family line on both sides to attend university.

After many jobs over 10 years—from lifeguarding, gas station attendant, high-pressure washer, night-club and concert hall bartender, fitness instructor, dental assistant, social and GIS researcher—I became a secondary teacher. As a secondary teacher for 17 years, I also raised a family. Having since left the profession and I have embarked on my soul’s calling: helping others help themselves, while continuing my own healing journey of body, mind, nervous system regulation, emotional growth, and spiritual development.

I have experienced both beauty and the beast within myself and others. This soul has known loss, near-death and health scares, love, enlightenment, collapse, and rebirth.

Growing up with a hardworking father who struggled with addiction, and a mother who was an empathic creative like myself, a hard worker and trauma survivor, there was much for me to sort through and understand about myself.

I raised two daughters, one of whom became estranged at age 12, which deeply broke my heart. With the birth of my first daughter at age 36, I also learned that my ex-husband had Myotonic Muscular Dystrophy Type 1, an inherited condition. I had two pregnancies between the birth of my second daughter at age 39.

Struggling with chronic appendicitis for half a decade, carpal tunnel surgeries, and a husband who could no longer work and was slowly fading from my life—though still physically present—brought me to my knees, to say the very least.

My father passed away in the summer of 2020 from cancer, just a week after we found out. An angry stepmother, grieving mother, and a funeral unlike anything I had experienced made it feel like something out of a tragic film. I realized how alone and emotionally unsupported I was in my marriage (something I had long suppressed, despite counselling). In September 2021, at my lowest point—sick myself, constantly nauseous and throwing up, recovering from a difficult gum surgery—I realized there was no room in our marriage for both of us to be unwell. My partner was unkind, apathetic, and lacked basic empathy. I was on my own.

I left in February 2022. Shortly after, my ex claimed he was completely healthy and that I was an unfit mother. Through manipulation and alienation, I became estranged from my eldest daughter, which was soul crushing. With heavy child and spousal support payments and legal fees, finances were strained heavily.

In July 2022, my youngest daughter saved my life. I only made it to the hospital in an ambulance because of her. I waited eight hours to see a doctor while I threw up and repeatedly passed out, only for the doctor to send me home, saying everything looked fine according to my bloodwork. I refused to leave. After being surprised by my insistence, he ordered a scan. The result: a gangrenous appendix and emergency surgery.

To add further strain, I was reprimanded at work several times for addressing issues with students who clearly lacked basic decorum, all related to phone use. Discussions involving explicit music lyrics (current events) played at school events and in hallways, as well as curriculum-related conversations about abortion and reincarnation (senior humanities course), were censored and later used as material to reprimand me. In truth, it was used as a justification to try to eliminate a top-paid teacher. I was one of only five in my board who were approved by a doctor to work from home during COVID. I also had four surgery-related leaves and one mental health leave following my father’s passing. I was paid at the top of the grid, and because I was transparent and medically supported, there was no basis for formal accusations. There is more to this story, including unusual incidents involving my work computer and administrative processes. I have questions about larger systemic issues within the education system and beyond, which I believe are not widely acknowledged. I remain observant and discerning.

During this time, legal fees accumulated due to ongoing correspondence from my ex and his lawyer. I moved four times while struggling to pay rent, child and spousal support, had to give up my car to afford housing, lost half my pension in separation proceedings, and came very close to homelessness.

I have faced many ongoing struggles, yet I continue to let love, light and intuition guide my way. I remain committed to authenticity and living in truth. I have also been deeply supported by my mother, church community, hockey community, family, friends, my sister and brother-in-law, aunt Shirley and uncle Frank, cousin Kyle and Pat, among others. I have found an online community of beautiful souls who share their creativity, and I with them.

I continue to support myself through meditation, stretching, exercise, subliminal affirmations, and neural pathway conditioning practices. I continue to move towards my soul calling, passions and creative expression in music, poetry, dance and art. As a result, I can help others find peace, even in chaos.

Always love and light. Be blessed and at peace.

“Helping others transform emotional depth into clarity, healing, and empowerment.”