II know I’m asking you to expose a raw and vulnerable part of yourself by confiding in me as your coach — so allow me to go first.

From a young age, I learned what it felt like to be unsafe in my own body. I experienced emotional and sexual abuse. I was taught, directly and indirectly, that love had conditions — that I needed to change, shrink, or be someone else to be accepted. I hated myself and everything about me.

By the time I was a teenager, I carried a deep belief that something was wrong with me. I felt disconnected from my body, from safety, and from any real sense of self-worth. I tried to control the only thing I could — myself: my emotions, my body, my needs, my voice.

By nineteen, the pain was so heavy that I didn’t want to be here anymore.

But there was a moment — I am tryinf so hard and I still hate myself. I knew then that if I didn’t choose to love myself and stop abandoning the little girl inside me, I would never experience real joy. That moment became the turning point.