Year one reflections

In early December, I celebrated my 1 year anniversary of my launch of Soar Health and Wellness. This launch symbolized a switch out of high performances and into a focused clinical practice. The growth I’ve had as an athletic therapist and as a person over these past 12 months has been massive. In my breaks from being Holiday Magical Officer of my home, I have been reflecting on what this year has meant to me.

December 2024 had me in a state of over exhaustion and burnout. I had been on the go, working/studying for 10-15 hours a day, 5-7 days a week since 2008, with the exception of 2 mat leaves that lasted under 10 months each. In 2021, I started to feel a pull towards slowing down and making the switch to clinical life. But in 2022, I got the opportunity to follow my Olympic dream and work full-time as Lead Therapist with Rowing Canada, where I had been working as a contracted Athletic Therapist since 2011. I paused this calling and upped my hustle with a 4 and 1.5 year old at home. I jumped into a leadership role and split my energy between work and motherhood with little energy for anything else. After 2.5 years of problem solving and pivots, treatment plans, supporting athletes and staff both physically and emotionally, incredible highs and lowest of lows, and 1 memorable trip to Paris and 1 to Chile with two suitcases full of Lululemon gear, I was done. I was empty and depleted.

The Universe knew it was time for me to slow down and come back to myself and showed itself with me getting laid off and unemployed last October. I was devastated and sad for a day or two and then saw this shift for what it was, an opportunity to heal myself and transition back into the treatment world of complex injuries intertwined with emotions in clients who are ready to move through their physical discomfort and deepen their connection to self. It was time to heal, slow down, and reconnect with my deepest calling.

The build over the last 12 months has been perfect. It’s been slow, steady, and purposeful. It has grown with my personal healing, increasing in load when my body, mind, and spirit were ready. The past year has been about healing from burnout, reconnecting to myself, prioritizing my well-being, and quieting my mind to hear what my intuition is saying AND actually doing what it says. Fuelling myself in a way that my body needs and thrives on, and connecting with those most important to me. It has been about showing up for my family, reconnecting with my husband, family, and friends. And as each shift out of burnout occurred and my ability to cognitively process returned, my client load increased. The link between personal healing and professional growth has been fascinating to observe.

I have also been diving deep into my continuing education since October. I ended 2024 with a rib muscle energy course (which I have been waiting over a decade to take) and a pelvic rehabilitation in athletes course. In 2025, I completed my craniosacral 2 and somatoemotional release 1 course through Upledger Institute. These courses returned me back into myself as a therapist and deepened my knowledge of myself and others, giving me words to how I have always seen the body, pain, and injuries and a language on how I have been treating my whole career. I have taken an applied neurology course through Kruse Elite, learning about the importance of brain health and pathways and how it connects to stability, strength, range of motion, pain, and vestibular health and has been a game changer for a few of my clients. 

I cannot wait to dive into the courses in 2026, they will be filled with knowledge and discovery.

One of my dearest colleagues has said to me a number of times the truest of statements: I am busiest when I am at my most authentic self. I feel more like myself than I ever have and I cannot wait to see what 2026 has in-store for me.

Yours in calm,

Jenn xo