How I Started Over (And Why I Created AlignVent)
Sometimes, the biggest shifts happen quietly. Before anyone else sees them. Before even you fully do.
At 40, I was lost.
My self-confidence was shot. And I had no idea what to do.
From the outside, I probably looked like I had it all together.
But inside, I was unraveling.
I was tired of being seen as “a mom.”
A corner I had painted myself into as a parenting blogger. A corner I resented.
I was tired of where I lived—a place I never chose with the long term in mind, but where I still found myself a decade and a half later.
My First Reinvention Attempt: Get a “Real Job”
I thought maybe what I needed was stability. So I went out and got a job with excellent health benefits—even acupuncture coverage for stress and burnout.
Unluckily, I soon learned why those benefits existed: it was a terrible fit.
I felt lost all over again.
So I turned to self-help books.
Stacks of them. Some helped for a while. Others collected dust.
But somehow, I felt worse.
I’d fallen into the self-help rabbit hole and didn’t know how to climb out.
The Turning Point: Create What I Needed
One thing was clear: I needed a space to figure things out.
A place that wasn’t performative. That wasn’t about parenting. That was just… mine.
So I went back to what I knew—content creation—and launched a magazine focused on midlife.
It wasn’t confessional (my journal already held that role).
It was observational. Editorial.
I asked questions like:
What does it really look like to be in transition?
What truths are we not telling ourselves about midlife?
And how do we make sense of that quiet ache for something more?
Because I’m an optimist at heart—and because I know the science of how framing shapes reality—I started interviewing women who were navigating change. Some were still in it. Others had found their way through.
I became obsessed with reinvention.
Not just the idea of it, but the practice of it.
What I Was Really Wrestling With
Reinvention became a way to deal with the shame I carried about not having it “figured out” by a certain age.
I thought I’d be further along.
Instead, I was stuck. And embarrassed.
But in the space I had built—free of judgment—I allowed myself to get curious.
And that curiosity led to a body of work: over 100 interviews, essays, and reflections on transformation.
It helped. But it still wasn’t enough.
Because something was missing:
We talk about transformation like it just happens.
But we don’t talk enough about the tools, the emotional mess, and the real steps it takes to get through it.
Why I Created AlignVent
I created AlignVent because I was tired of yada-yada-yada-ing over the hard parts of growth.
We want shiny. We want hope.
But we also need truth. And support.
I took everything I’d learned—through burnout, experimentation, and a hundred conversations with brave women—and turned it into a space that could help others the way I had needed help.
A space that’s:
Science-backed (not just motivational)
Emotionally safe (not performative)
Grounded in tools (not just inspiration)
One that understands fear as part of the process, not a sign you’re doing something wrong.
Change feels hard because your brain is wired to keep you safe—not to help you grow. Reinvention can trigger your nervous system’s fear response, even when the change is positive.
The 14-Day Reinvention Challenge
You don’t need a 5-year plan.
You just need a first step.
The 14-Day Reinvention Challenge was born from that realization.
It’s the experience I wish I had when I was in that in-between place.
Inside the challenge, you’ll get:
A clear, simple path forward—without pressure
Tools backed by psychology and neuroscience
Journal prompts, mini mindset shifts, and supportive actions
A way to reconnect with your own clarity, at your own pace
It’s designed to help you feel safer, steadier, and more yourself as you begin again.
If You’re Where I Was…
This challenge is for you.
Not because it promises a dramatic overnight transformation.
But because it honors the truth of what you’re carrying, and gives you space to figure out what comes next.
I built it for me. And now I’m offering it to you.
Because reinvention isn’t a buzzword.
It’s a survival skill.
A creative act.
A way back to yourself.
Whether you're reinventing to lead louder or to live softer, I want to show you what’s possible when you stop waiting for permission to change.