Living Well | With Raquel

Do you ever feel like you’re right on the cusp of being where you truly want to be in life- but the goal post keeps moving?

For the last 5 years, I have been a business owner with one foot in creative pursuits teaching yoga and nutrition, and the other in a career path in corporate leadership and regulatory compliance. I spent the last few years hovering just above my goals. Mainly because of the incongruence that exists with what the world expects me to produce, and the type of mother I want to be for my children.

Drawing this balance has been the biggest challenge I’ve faced, and getting honest about that tension has been reshaping my life.

I had a long stretch of self-employment and only took on gig work since having my daughter in 2021. I returned to work in October of 2024 after I accepted a part time role in the financial compliance field that gave me tremendous opportunity for growth and a professional compliance certification in the receivables management industry. But with the added hours, commute, and requirement to show up to “the office”, I had less and less time each day to do the things that required ongoing due diligence to keep my own business growing-and my own feelings of peace and balance.

I also missed my daughter tremendously, as we had stayed home together for almost 3 years before she began preschool. The adjustment has had its ups and downs.

Throughout 2025 I began to see my drive, my passion, and my interest in maintaining my own online traction and business growth begin to dwindle. That creative spark I once had was spent solving another organization’s problems. But instead of pushing myself past a period of reflection and

I picked up additional hobbies and travelled more. I began training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, earning my first stripe. I added more targeted strength and mobility training, seeing results and improving my physique for the sole purpose of enjoyment vs chasing a goal. I picked the electric guitar back up. I started doing jigsaw puzzles…and the recipes I have been creating are something really special.

I also spent more time with my children feeling relaxed and present. Then, between winter and early spring of 2025, I went through a period of time where I felt uninspired and empty. Unsupported, and demotivated. I couldn’t bring myself to create, I couldn’t be bothered to maintain my online presence, and I began to feel a deep dissonance and disconnection from social media and maintaining an image online. Then, my own yoga practice began to diminish. Less and less time on my mat, less and less time with my breath.

I took an inventory of what was contributing to my happiness, what was contributing to my discontentment. I got serious about what I really wanted and went after it.

It was easy once I became objective about my time. How was I spending it? What was my state of mind during those times? Day by day, I made the moves and got “unstuck”. It has been a process that has required me to be very honest and real with myself and eliminate my own habits and thinking styles that kept getting me back to a place of dissatisfaction.

I dissolved my former business, Higher Self, LLC. in September of 2025. I then quit my job in November and have since been reimagining and refining my vision of what it means to create a healthy and thriving community.

Please join me in this mission. LivingWell is a movement and call to action for families and busy professionals to create simple and sustainable habits that improve their overall health and the health of their community. I’m excited that you’re along for the journey!