To a new chapter... 🦋

🦋 New beginnings often arrive quietly like a butterfly choosing the exact moment and place to land.

I walked into a workshop recently and walked out with something I didn’t even realize I needed, a reminder that the biggest obstacle I’ve faced at times has been… me. My fear. My silence. My tendency to shrink so others could feel comfortable.

For years, I carried myself like Bruno from Encanto, living “between the walls,” present but hidden, a little too quiet, and a little too afraid to take up space. People didn’t talk about Teresita, and somewhere along the way, I convinced myself I wasn’t supposed to shine. I was not part of the story. 

But I was wrong. I shine anyway.

I shine because life has taught me that hiding doesn’t protect you, it just dims the parts of you that were meant to guide you.

When my father passed away, my world cracked open. His death was the kind of pain that changes the shape of your days. It broke me in ways I never anticipated. And yet, in that very breaking, something inside me shifted. When everything felt lost, that pain carved out a new direction, one that led me toward my purpose.

Grief did not ruin me. It rerouted me.

It pushed me into counseling… into helping others feel seen, supported, and understood… into building a life where healing is not only possible, but honored. It taught me to walk with people through their own valleys with empathy I didn’t have before.

Even now, grief lives in me.

One part of me is still finding its way back home. Another part of me knows deeply that I am exactly where I’m meant to be.

Every time I sit with a client and witness their courage, their growth, their emotional “new beginnings,” I’m reminded of why I chose this path. Healing isn’t loud. It doesn’t announce itself. Often, it just arrives softly, like a butterfly landing on your shoulder, reminding you that you’re still becoming.

There is sorrow in death, yes. But there is also hope. Life continues. Love continues. And one of the most sacred ways we honor those we’ve lost is by stepping fully into the life they would’ve wanted for us.

So here’s to the quiet moments that become turning points. Here’s to healing, to growth, and to becoming the version of ourselves we once hid away.

🦋💛

Thank you to ILLUM Counseling Center for Trauma and Loss for creating a space that allowed this reminder to unfold exactly when I needed it.