One of the first things I had to give up in this work was caring what other people thought. Not in a flippant, surface-level, “I don’t give a shit” kind of way. I mean in the deeper, cellular sense of unhooking myself from external validation, of refusing to let other people’s opinions, reactions, or silence determine what, or whether I create.

I’ve never been what you’d call “disciplined.” I’ve struggled with structure my whole life. I can’t be rigid, and I rebel against systems. But one of the most profound transformations of my journey has been becoming someone who is devoted to their life’s work. When devotion came along, everything felt different.

You feel it: the pull to create something original, to teach from lived experience, and speak in a voice that feels like your own. That instinct is the beginning of a body of work. The problem is we tend to imagine a body of work as something we build after we’ve become who we’re meant to be. We mistake it for proof of arrival—when in truth, it’s how we get there. 

Most wellness and transformation professionals wander around acting like their life is made up of a random string of events with no connection to each other. They act as if they just decided to be a coach, a therapist, a healer, or a guide, as if they weren’t driven to it by a life full of experience and conditioning. They don’t see that their work was as inevitable as a river flowing downhill, shaped by every rock, curve, and invisible force acting upon it. And when they come to me for help, the first thing I tell them is, that’s not how it works. 

Your life’s work isn’t just a job, a business, or a set of skills you’ve learned—it’s the unique expression of your purpose through the work you do. It’s the integration of your personal transformation, your deepest wisdom, and your desire to serve others. For wellness and transformation professionals, your work is often a direct reflection of your own journey. The healing, breakthroughs, and evolution you’ve experienced become the foundation for how you help others.

While the full alignment of business and life’s work isn’t something we wake up to one day—it is an ongoing, conscious, thoughtful process that evolves continuously—for most of us, it isn’t just an option, if you want to create the most authentic, fulfilling, and happiest life possible, it is a necessity.