MAYBE YOUR LIFE MAKES

MORE SENSE THAN YOU THINK

 

For a long time, I thought growth was about fixing what was wrong with me.

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If I could just become more confident, more productive, more disciplined, more successful, more organized, more self-aware... then maybe I'd finally feel like I was enough.

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From the outside, my life looked successful.

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I earned my degree in psychology, completed graduate school, became a licensed therapist, built a private practice, and spent years helping people navigate anxiety, depression, trauma, relationship challenges, and major life transitions.

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But underneath all of that, I was asking many of the same questions my clients were asking.

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Why do I keep getting stuck in the same patterns?

Why do I know what to do but struggle to do it?

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Why do smart, capable people continue making choices that move them further away from the life they want?

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And if I'm honest, there was another question underneath it all:

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Am I actually helping people?

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Early in my career, I wrestled with imposter syndrome. I wanted a clearer way to organize what I was seeing in the therapy room and a practical way to help people connect the dots between their beliefs, behaviors, and outcomes.

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What started as my search for clarity eventually became something much bigger.

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WHY PEOPLE KEEP

REPEATING THE SAME PATTERNS

 

As a therapist, I began noticing something I couldn't stop seeing.

 

People would come to therapy with very different struggles.

 

Anxiety.

Burnout.

Relationship problems.

Perfectionism.

People-pleasing.

Overwhelm.

Self-sabotage.

 

But underneath those struggles, I kept hearing many of the same beliefs.

 

"I'm not good enough."

"I'm too much."

"I'm not important."

"I don't belong."

"I'm a failure."

 

The details were different.

The stories were different.

 

But the themes were often remarkably similar.

 

Around that same time, I was listening to The Power of Vulnerability by Brené Brown and becoming increasingly fascinated by the role shame plays in our lives. I found a list of negative self-talk statements online and began using them with clients to identify the beliefs they carried about themselves.

 

Then I started asking deeper questions.

 

Why do they believe that?

What experiences taught them that story?

What continues to reinforce it?

 

And what would happen if they stopped believing it?

 

Slowly, what began as notes, observations, and conversations evolved into what would eventually become the Gremlins & Goats Framework.

 

Not because I set out to create a framework.

 

Because I was trying to understand why so many people seemed trapped by stories they didn't realize they were carrying.

 

THE PART MOST PEOPLE DON'T KNOW

 

Interestingly, while I was building the framework, I was also living it.

 

There were areas of my own life where I felt deeply stuck.

 

I was learning about patterns, teaching about patterns, and helping clients recognize patterns while simultaneously wrestling with some of my own.

 

I understood the stories.

I understood the choices available to me.

 

And yet it still took years to make some of the changes I knew I needed to make.

 

That experience taught me something I have never forgotten.

 

Awareness is powerful.

But awareness alone doesn't create change.

 

Change requires courage.

 

It requires grief.

It requires uncertainty.

 

It requires letting go of familiar identities, familiar roles, and sometimes even familiar futures.

And sometimes it requires choosing yourself before you're fully convinced everything is going to work out.

 

That realization fundamentally changed how I view growth.

 

Today, I don't believe people stay stuck because they're weak.

 

I think most people stay stuck because their patterns once served a purpose.

 

Those patterns helped them survive.

 

The challenge is learning when survival is no longer enough.

 

WHY I CREATED THE

GREMLINS & GOATS FRAMEWORK

 

At its core, Gremlins & Goats is about helping people understand the connection between their beliefs, behaviors, and choices.

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The framework helps people identify the stories shaping their lives, understand where those stories came from, recognize what continues to feed them, and intentionally choose something different.

 

Not through shame.

Not through willpower.

Not through pretending the past didn't happen.

 

But through awareness, compassion, accountability, and choice.

 

Because I believe something deeply:

 

Your past helps explain you.

It does not have to define you.

 

When we understand ourselves more clearly, we gain the power to choose differently.

 

A different response.

A different boundary.

A different belief.

A different future.

 

WHAT I BELIEVE

I believe every behavior makes sense in context.

I believe most people are carrying far more shame than they realize.

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I believe healing begins with curiosity, not judgment.

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I believe awareness creates freedom.

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I believe personal responsibility and self-compassion can coexist.

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I believe growth doesn't have to be miserable.

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I believe laughter, creativity, movement, play, and meaningful connection are essential parts of healing.

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And I believe that when people understand themselves better, they show up differently in every area of life.

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HELPING PEOPLE OVERCOME OVERWHELM, SELF-DOUBT & BURNOUT

 

Today, I help individuals, helping professionals, and organizations understand the hidden patterns shaping their lives, relationships, leadership, well-being, and performance.

 

Through The Unbinding Experience, professional trainings, speaking engagements, books, courses, and the Gremlins & Goats Framework, my goal is simple:

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To help people understand themselves with greater compassion, challenge the stories that no longer serve them, and create lives that feel more aligned with who they truly are.

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Because I don't believe people are broken.

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I believe most people are simply living from stories they never realized they were carrying.

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And once those stories are brought into the light, everything starts to make more sense.

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PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND

 

I'm a Licensed Professional Counselor based in Oklahoma with more than 14 years of experience in the mental health field and over 9 years in private practice.

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My training includes:

• Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

• Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI)

• Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) training through the Integrative Psychiatry Institute

• Mindfulness and meditation practices

• Sound healing and nervous system regulation practices

• Trauma-informed care

 

I am the author of Gremlins & Goats: Shedding Shame, creator of the Gremlins & Goats Framework, founder of Lighthouse, and host of the Thinking Out Loud podcast.

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THE HUMAN STUFF

 

When I'm not working, you'll usually find me spending time with my family, hanging out with my animals,, gardening, listening to music, sewing, practicing macrame, or dancing in my kitchen while making dinner, or enjoying a really good bowl of soup.

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Because while I care deeply about growth and healing, I don't think life is meant to be spent endlessly fixing ourselves.

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I think it's meant to be lived.

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ONE FINAL THOUGHT

 

Maybe you're not broken.

Maybe you're not behind.

Maybe you're not failing.

 

Maybe your life makes more sense than you think.

 

And maybe understanding the patterns that brought you here is the first step toward creating the life you actually want.