EMBRACING ALL THE ELEMENTS
The Greatest ROI is Living in Alignment with Our Authentic Self
Living in Alignment
I was in San Francisco during the Lunar New Year– just a week ago (at the time of my writing this).
We are in a Wood Element, Snake Zodiac year, and we are in the season of Yin (water), which soon becomes the Yang energy of the Spring.
The snake is the sixth sign in the 12-year cycle of the Chinese zodiac and represents transformation and wisdom, as well as rebirth and healing. Literally shedding of the skin.
The Wood element represents super growth—like bursting forward (or through the earth) energy. The last time we had both these energies was in 1965: a year of pivotal transformation, as well as disruption.
Often, change requires an overhaul.
If there were ever a year to embrace stepping into your true, authentic self, this would be it.
Harmony & Water
San Francisco is a place I called my home for more than 20 years, and the place I started, ran, and sold multiple businesses. A place I dated famous exes ;), and a place I cultivated my sense of self-worth. I had flown to San Francisco (and the Bay Area) for a private event and spent the weekend surrounded by successful entrepreneurs.
I don’t typically like traveling in the winter; I like to hibernate and isolate a bit, but I had a few incredible opportunities and knew I would spend a few days on the Pacific.
“What form of water do you want to be,” Maddy had asked me last year, during an Acupuncture session. That day I had chosen the pool on my roofdeck….but in San Francisco I choose the ocean.
When I arrived in the bay my first order of business was to walk on the beach and dip my broken toe into the Pacific.
There is something about the bay, the ocean, and even the iconic Golden Gate Bridge watching over it all, the way the city meets the water that is powerful. The rhythm of the tides, the mist rolling in from the ocean, and waking up to the sound of the waves was as if I was in harmony with the flow of water. This truly is the city of change and transformation: the birthplace of the Beats, the stories of the city from Jack London, the dot com boom and burst (which I was there for), a city that still leads all startup investing.
The Woods, the Water, and Me
I felt like me, completely.
I woke up to owls and waves, saw friends, got asked out on 2 dates…
I had the chance to hike nearly 13 miles one day at Jack London park—a hike that seemed to take us through many forms of the wood element: fields of wine grapes held up by wooden poles, lakes surrounded by Ferns and great redwoods, spindly Madrone trees.
I had beautiful, organic food.
I literally picked lemons off a TREE and used them for drinks. Kim went to her garden and picked our meal.
The air was fresh and clean. I drove a total of 247 miles and not a single person honked at me or tailgated!
I got a chance during my trip to talk about what we are building at Rêve Health, but more importantly, I got a chance to come back to the Julie I had forgotten about: the woman who built successful companies, who was confident, and funny, and full of life.
The Julie who was so passionate and excited about changing the world: the Julie invited to dinner parties with some of the greatest entrepreneurs in the world.
The startup Julie, not the consultant Julie. The San Francisco Julie, not the Boston Julie.
If I were to describe the energy of the startup/San Francisco Julie, it’s a combination of wood and water: growth, change, energy, fortitude…and also adaptability. And a whole lot of passion.
Finding Meaning
I was never fully happy in my consultant identity, but it was comfortable.
I didn’t need to work the type of hours required in a startup, I didn’t have huge rollercoaster days or weeks, I made a lot of money for a long time.
But happy?
That wouldn’t have been a word I would use.
Fulfilled? Definitely not. And then, the money stopped flowing, some of it by choice as I kept turning down potential clients, but some of it after betrayal from a client and another betrayal from someone I worked with for nearly 13 years.
That was my sign to move on last year and do something that held much more meaning.
When Maddy and I decided to create Rêve Health, it was because we literally needed a company like ours when we were both suffering from health issues.
We were gaslit by doctors, ignored, shamed…told we were “anxious” and needed to sleep more, or hydrate more (or the best was, “have you tried not being stressed?”). We both believe, fundamentally, that true health is more than the physical and the balance of life the emotional, spiritual and physical, must be addressed together. The Yin and the Yang.
But we also needed to move on from our past selves, our past work lives, our past identities.
Travel to Remember
Even after I started Rêve Health, I felt a bit like an imposter.
Like…who am I, at 50 (now 51), to be starting a startup again?
How can I possibly work 15 hour days and go back into a rollercoaster, instead of my comfy status quo consulting? Will I even be accepted back into the startup community? What if it doesn’t work?
Unfortunately my environment in Boston and most (not all) the people there have fueled the fears. It’s a world of no risk–go and get that insurance job. What are you thinking, leaving Johnson & Johnson. A world where I’ve personally found many people content with the status quo, and I was becoming one of them. Misunderstood. Lonely. Isolated. No chance for romance or a partner. No chance to be fully believed.
I realize other people have different experiences but for me…well, let’s say I was right back in 1998.
This time, traveling to San Francisco, I remembered who I was.
I held my own with the biggest entrepreneurs in the world (not a joke). I talked for 3 hours with someone whose name you know. The people who will literally change the face of healthcare were in the same room–on the same couch–as me.
And it felt good. It felt like I belonged. The true imposter was the version of me who was trying to fit in to the square peg of Boston.
According to Maddy, “The water element, which is strongest during the winter season, is when we can cultivate our strongest sense of self identity. We take space from the fast paced movement of life and ground within ourselves. Surrounding ourselves with supportive environments and people helps us get clear on what we value and how we want to live authentically.”
Nurturing Growth
Water is fluid, adaptable, and nourishing–water nourishes wood.
It represents emotions, intuition, and the subconscious—qualities that are also linked to Yin. The way water flows, molds itself to its surroundings, and can shift its form (from liquid to ice to steam) mirrors the Yin principle of subtlety and quiet power. Water is also the source of life, nurturing growth and facilitating change, but without force.
I woke up the day after the Lunar New Year to sales, amazing emails from potential partners and investors, and the go-ahead for expanding (we now serve 10 states just 6 months after launch!!).
I’ve been around the block enough to know when all the signs are there for my business taking off and its ability to grow to help more people.
But…the greatest ROI I am seeing is my own happiness and fulfillment. An ability to trust my gut, to have the patience to see this through, to embrace a steady flow to build all the foundations in my life carefully and with full intention.
I am genuinely happier pretty much anywhere outside of Boston. I am happy surrounded by elegance and sun and ocean and trees and wineries, entrepreneurs, healthy food. There’s a few places on this planet that I truly enjoy and only one I can build a health and wellness company.
I once said it was never about the place, but I was wrong.
So, so wrong.
It is always about the place, your environment, and living in alignment.
But–just like the snake shedding its skin, or the ice turning to water, sometimes transformation requires a period of time that’s not pretty, not fun, and requires a leap of faith.
What Form of Water Do You Want to Be?
I’m back in Boston now and the form of water I choose to embrace right now is snow (and I’m going to get that energy no matter what, it seems!)
There’s a quietness in snow, an almost sacred stillness about it, as if the world slows down, but yet it evokes a sense of renewal, like a blank canvas. When it melts, it transforms into flowing water.
What better way to symbolize personal transformation, a slow and quiet change before the energies of the Spring and a pivotal year?
And then later this year…
Well…we’ll get back to that ocean.
Because between the walks in and by the ocean, the hikes in the woods, the organic food, the people, and the amazing weather, life was simply easier. It is supportive of the company I am building, and the life I want to lead.
It is authentically me.
