The story of “Unraveling” is a coming undone. It describes my own personal crisis which happened at the most unlikely time in my life.
I had finally gotten everything I had ever wanted—two beautiful kids, a loving husband, a successful business sale followed by retirement, financial freedom and a move to enjoy life in Paris, France. Just when I thought my life was perfect … everything fell apart.
A sudden health emergency, the loss of the identity that had come from my job, and a move to a place where life happened at a much slower pace—lead to a complete break down, a breaking open and a release of old feelings of terror I had been trying to hide for most of my life. This brought to the surface childhood wounds, old hurts and deeply buried unprocessed trauma. It took away most of the distractions and coping mechanisms I put in place to numb the pain and stay busy enough not to deal with any of it. It forced me to stop running the race I had been calling “life” and make a choice: keep pushing these things down and away or face and eventually befriend them.
“Unraveling” sets free the secrets I had been living with and the many masks I had worn for so long.
It revisits my traumatic childhood in Poland under communist oppression, the secret fleeing from my homeland for freedom and safety in my adolescence, and the painful, heart-breaking journey of being a political refugee in the United States of America as a young adult.
It tells my story as a young, immigrant woman who started over with nothing while not speaking the language or understanding the culture, and having to overcome those obstacles to pursue, embrace and live out the “American Dream”. It details my entrepreneurial adventure of starting CheapCaribbean.com with my husband Jim and the corporate career days of running the large organization as it grew.
It is my journey as a foreigner and outsider finding love, raising two children and building a new family to create a sense of belonging I always longed for.
Finally, it is a story of homecoming and finding freedom—taking the road inward and back to my heart. It was the unraveling which finally set me free and the spiritual path it set me on. It is my hope that it will offer you the inspiration and the tools to do the same.
Welcome to Soul Leadership.
Lead with empathy, inclusion, vulnerability, transparency, courage, healthy boundaries, self-respect, self-love, accountability and unity.
