Rob Dial, host of the Mindset Mentor podcast, says that in life we are offered wake-up calls of varying degrees. In order to change our patterns, "we can get hit by a proverbial feather, a brick, or a truck."

In my case, the truck was real and colliding with it nearly took the lives of my kids and me one scalding August day in 2008. Concussed, bruised, and with no recollection of the accident, I was cut from the car and transported to a nearby hospital with my 2 sweeties, then aged 5 and 3. They were spared physical wounds, but the psychological trauma is something I'm sure lives inside the cells of their bodies to this day.

While wading through months of recuperation after the crash, my intuition offered me an opportunity for healing on a deeper level, a chance to answer one of life's big questions:

In super-abridged terms, being both broadsided and slammed front-end into a stone wall in a matter of seconds was a pivotal dividing line in my life. Looking back, I can see clearly that I had missed softer signals that I wasn't walking my soul's path.

It was time for big change. Spirit had handed me a blank canvas and a pen. No more living a "should-do" kind of life. It was time to write my own script.

Over the next half decade, I left my marriage, moved my kids twice while amicably divorcing their dad, and built a successful massage therapy business. I also committed to a regular yoga practice, one that kissed the core of my soul and kept me afloat during some really dark days.

I hired a therapist and a coach, the first to help me process decades of pain and the second to hold space for my history while helping me use my unique experiences to propel myself mindfully forward. I'm sure without these supports I'd have returned to old, flailing patterns.

I don't beat myself up for turning a blind eye to the subtler cues that I was, for years, unfulfilled and living misaligned with my own core values.

Instead, I choose on a daily basis to connect with my inner landscape to make sure I'm on track. I also celebrate the struggles I've endured for without the dark, we cannot appreciate the light.

How are you writing YOUR second act?

What might it feel like to set the scene for what comes next?

Reminding you that feathers leave less of a dent than bricks and trucks,

Jennifer (she/her)

My full schedule of classes and openings for 1:1 appointments is on my website.