Who’s Priscilla?

Hey, I’m Priscilla!

I’m a holistic psychotherapist and career coach who helps creative professionals move through anxiety and self-doubt so they can confidently create the life they truly want to live.

I’ve often started my story in 2009 when I was in what I would describe as “career hell”, but the story starts much earlier than that.

It’s important to highlight how I got there in the first place.
How did I find myself in a situation where I hated my job?

It often starts with a little pinch in the belly.
Something that tells us not to move forward with an important decision.

But we do it anyway.

Fear gets in the way, we worry about the what if’s, yeah-buts, and other concerns. And, before we know it, we’ve ignored the little voice within that said don’t do it, and we’ve said yes when we wanted to say no.

That’s what happened to me.

I always knew I didn’t want to work in special education, I didn’t want to teach middle school, and I didn’t want to work in a private school. But when the opportunity presented itself, I said yes anyway.

I said yes, even though my gut was twisted in a tense knot and I didn’t have the training to teach special education or middle school. I said yes because I let my fears get in the way, and felt I should say yes to this opportunity. I was also afraid there wasn’t anything better out there, and who wouldn’t want a prestigious private school as a job location on their resume?

Needless to say, I became an elementary school teacher who would have that pit feeling in her stomach on Sunday evenings and have to drag herself out of bed on Monday mornings dreading the week ahead.

I would often come home, get out of my work clothes, get into bed, and cry.

It was rough.

I often felt anxious and wondered if there was something wrong with me. I felt inadequate as a teacher. 

I considered taking stress leave, but my doctor wouldn’t write me a note.

I wondered if I was the problem. 

You might have experienced this too. You’ve done everything you were told to do to be successful. You thought if you did the work, got the job, house, promotions, car, checked all the boxes required to be seen as an accomplished professional, you’d be living a happy life, right?

Well, needless to say, I had checked most of my boxes and still felt miserable. I also felt exhausted at the end of each work day and didn’t have any energy left to do the things I used to enjoy doing.

I also felt stuck. I had no idea what I would do next if I decided to leave my career as a school teacher. I wasn’t even sure if it would be possible to find work where I would feel happy.

It’s work after all.
Who’s happy going to work?

My unhappiness eventually led to high levels of stress that affected my health.

One day, as I stood in front of a group of rowdy students, I realized I had an important decision to make. I could either stay in a career I didn’t like, and accept to feel miserable until retirement; or, I could take the risk to leave this career and face the fear to pursue what my heart truly desired.

Since I couldn’t imagine spending an extra year standing in front of a classroom teaching kids, I chose to take the risk. I resigned from my position as a teacher to pursue my first love, Psychology.