Introducing: The Refinement

Welcome to The Refinement - a weekly series where I blend my nine years as a certified energy leadership coach with my work as a jewelry artist to support your journey of becoming.

In metalsmithing, refinement is the process of melting down metals to transform them into something more valuable and beautiful. In life, we go through the same process—releasing aspects of our old selves to reveal our authentic power.

Every Monday, I'll share insights, lessons, and energy shifts designed to help you step into your week with intention. Let's dive in.

I've been a runner more than 17 years. I started with a 12-week run/walk training program with the goal of running my first 5K.

Ultimately, I worked my way up to (three-time) marathoner. In addition to marathons, I ran countless races of smaller, but still intimidating, distances. Running became who I was.

But a few years ago, I developed a chronic injury that shut my running life down. After I worked my way back to health, I found that my body no longer really liked running. So I turned to other types of exercise.

And yet, none of them gave me the same thrill - or motivation - as running did.

Then, I became a jeweler and started up a whole new business. And "jeweler" became my identity.

And with it, the abandonment of all the thrill and motivation of my old runner identity.

Over the past year, I let the demands of a startup business, combined with the dumpster fire of 2025, literally change my identity.

I allowed myself to feel overwhelm. To deprioritize exercise and all the healthy habits that came with it. 

And I didn't like it. But I couldn't work out how to get myself back to that old identity that suited me so well.

And then, on Christmas Eve, I saw a post in my social feed from an organization called Run the Edge. They were about to start up their "Run the Year" Challenge, and I recognized it because, in my running days, I had completed this challenge more than once.

What's Run the Year? The challenge is to mirror the number of the year in miles. So, 2026 miles over the course of 2026.

And this year, they were introducing a new version: Walk the Year.

My running days may be behind me (although I haven't entirely given up hope), but I can walk. And I love to walk. And I live in the perfect environment for it.

So, realizing that I don't have to be limited to just *one* identity, I signed up.

I can be a jeweler. I can also be a runner (or a walker, or a cyclist, or a yogi, or whatever I want to be).

I don't have to pick one and go all in. And in this case, reigniting my love of movement (in nature!) will only make me better as a jeweler. And as a coach.

And as a human.

So my message to you this week is to embrace ALL the parts of you - all of your identities.

You don't have to give up one part of yourself to be amazing at another.

You are not one-dimensional. You are a brilliant faceted stone. Let all your facets shine!