FORGET THE FLUFF
What I really do is help you alchemize your pain.
We all want to feel like our lives have meaning. We want to have the courage to take risks for the things that matter. We want to experience deep love and connection. We want to feel good in our bodies. We want to feel like we're enough. We want to feel inspired and ignited. We want to feel deeply connected to life. We want to know how to love ourselves.
The sweet spot we're all looking for in life? It lives through liberation, a place only the most courageous venture.
The greatest gift I've been given in my life has been the courage to face my pain. Through it, I have discovered who I truly am. On the other side of it, I have found a way to share the wisdom I’ve gathered.
Pushing Beauty is a place to find a path through pain and discontent and into an open heart. That journey, in my experience, is an honor.
Michelle’s Story
Ever since I can remember I've been using writing to process life. I sat in trees listening to mixed tapes and writing poetry. I hid journals under mattresses and wrote letters to everyone I loved. I have always been someone who has felt deeply and who has sought to uncover life's meaning. My heart bled for strangers before I knew what an empath was.
I felt the longing of my soul constantly pulling me, but I didn't know what it meant or what to do with it. I tried to use my mind to figure it out, and when I didn't get anywhere I shoved the feelings away. I was often stuck in my head, confused, and frustrated.
I spent most of my life trapped within myself.
Because I didn’t know how to listen to my intuition or process my emotions, I decided to ground myself in the world by emulating qualities I liked. I wanted to be strong, confident, outgoing, and independent. So I became those things. Or I should say I pretended to be those things because to be those things required me to face some things I was not yet prepared to face.
You can only hide for so long.
I was too busy playing dress-up to sit with the truth that I was terrified that who I really was wasn't good enough for anyone. I wasted so much time living in my head. I questioned everything I said and did, always afraid I had made the wrong move. I stayed in relationships that were clearly wrong for me for far too long. I was deeply insecure and lost but told the world (and myself) that I was strong and confident.
Pieces started to fall around me. I was stuck in my career. Money wasn't flowing. I was picking fights with my boyfriend. I didn't like my living situation.
Deep inside I felt this horrible feeling like I wasn't living the life I was here to live.
Looking back I can see a very clear path at that time in my life. Every aspect of my life was unfolding and pointing me onto that path.
Then I met my greatest teacher: my own breath.
I was guided to begin a Breathwork practice, and my life has never been the same. At the time I remember thinking, "How the hell is breathing going to change my life?" Oh, but it did. It dramatically did.
This breathing technique was not about relaxation. It was about healing. It was about opening my heart. It was about discovering myself. And that's what I did.
Who I Am Now
Writing about my past feels like another lifetime. And it kind of is. I'm now a Breathwork facilitator, mentor, and published author. Every aspect of my life has transformed. But most importantly, now I love every ounce of myself.
I can be seen by others without shrinking myself down. I don’t worry about what other people think about me. I don't worry about trying to do it all right because I know there is no right way only the way that is mine. I trust myself to make the choices that are best for my life, and I don’t spend my energy questioning myself afterward.
I’ve developed a healthy balance between using my mind and my heart.
Don't let this lead you to believe that my life is pain-free. I went through a terrible heartbreak in 2016, and I have learned tremendously from it. I received a master class in self-love, suffering, and transformation. That experience and all of the healing I’ve done since is infused in everything I offer.
I don’t think it’s important to look deeply inward, I think it’s necessary.
It's necessary if you want to relieve your anxiety, if you want to let go of your pain, if you want to accept yourself, if you want to feel any bit better than you do right now. Turning inward and walking straight through the pain you're hiding from is the only path to true happiness.
The journey inward will find you at the right time for you. People are waking up every day to the truth that they can transform their lives themselves and that so much more is possible for their lives.
This path of looking inward is challenging because of the deep feelings we’ve suppressed and need to process. It’s challenging because the ego is strong and will do anything it can to dupe us into taking the easy route (which actually doesn’t exist, btw).
If you’re reading this and you’re struggling in the depths of darkness or you know you’re not living the life that is meant for you, take a look at my offerings. This life is not an easy path, but I promise you that if you show up to do the work, and if you face it all wholeheartedly, what is on the other side is so worth it.
“Michelle, I've been meaning to say how much I enjoy your writing and your honesty. We all subscribe to so many different newsletters at times in our lives but yours is one I always actually read and always come away feeling a little lighter and brighter a little more connected. Thank you."”
— Lucy
R E A D M Y N E W S L E T T E R
Words From
My Soul
I’ve been writing a newsletter consistently for over ten years. Recently, I’ve begun sharing most of my writing through Substack. Click the link below to join me there.