Throughout the first few years of building my practice, I felt the need to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. In trying to be accessible to everyone, I created a professional persona that excluded some things about my personal life. Nothing major, but I’d been covering up tattoos, not using the word fuck, and leaving out the fact that I ride a Harley when patients ask how I spent my weekend.

These were small things, but I began feeling the desire to show up even more authentically in my professional life. I don’t think there needs to be a separate professional version of me. Of course, my behavior at home vs work will be somewhat different due to different roles, but that’s not the same as creating a blander work persona to be more palatable to more people.

I will continue to be naturally professional. I’m honest, responsible, accountable, polite, compassionate, ethical, and I work incredibly hard to offer the best care that I can.

Where I’m going with this, is to say I’ve started letting the tattoos show more. While I certainly won’t be spouting out casual “fucks” with all my patients, I am allowing it back into my writing. In a gluten-free, dairy-free world of 6:00 am meditations, a girl has gotta get her kicks somewhere. Life is TOO short. Fuck seems like a pretty innocuous outlet for my inner rebel.

To be likable to everyone I would have to dilute myself. I refuse to be a watered-down boring version of myself for the sake of marketability. I see that all over Instagram– the wellness guru whose entire feed is yoga poses and raw vegan snacks. Their moments of vulnerability are limited to confessions about drinking coffee sometimes. To me, it feels two-dimensional and inauthentic to present myself that way. I want to know what keeps you up at night (or what has you laughing out loud), and I’ll happily share the same.

So, I am going to risk turning off some people with bared skin, and the fucks, and the cringy truths, and that’s totally okay. The people who vibe with what I offer will stick around, and then I get to connect with the right people. Social media is worthless if it doesn’t offer us the opportunity to meaningfully connect. Personally, I need some grit to balance out all the green juice in Instagram-land and the interwebs.

Expect to see the real me on here. I’m a writer, and I want to share prose and poetry on occasion. In the past, I’ve resisted, as it seemed off-brand or irrelevant somehow. But sharing writing feels meaningful and true. Receiving your comments, stories, and feedback on those posts is one of the ways I feel most connected in online spaces. Writing is my medicine. Creativity is therapeutic and self-expression heals. That’s 100% on-brand.

I hope you will find shared truths or new perspectives. Maybe you’ll find words for feelings and experiences through mine, or a sense of belonging in reading.

Mostly, I want to connect about something real.

I want my example to feel like permission to be dynamic, fully expressed, and a little wild in ALL areas of your life. Because you can be, and not everyone will like you, and it’s okay. The people who are a yes for what you’re about, are a yes to the real you. That’s freedom.

To a liberated life,
~C