I'm Natalieā€”
educator, writer, coach,
and founderĀ of vim & zen.
vim & zen started as the work I needed.
It became the work I do.
How could I work so hard
at the relationships that mattered most to me,
and still feel so much distance, frustration, and pain?
I always thought I was self-aware.
Even as a little girl, I was fascinated by people
and what made them tick,
a bachelor's in Human Development
was a natural fit.
I had grit, too. I'd learned to push through
and accomplish things that mattered.
So how could something this important,
something I poured so much effort into,
be the one thing I couldn't figure out?
The answer surprised me.
In my effort to form relationships
I had become very focused on others
and what I thought they needed and wanted.
I was very other-aware. Self-aware? Not so much.
Connection was what I wanted most.
But somewhere along the way,
I'd lost connection with myself.
What I discovered is that
I can't truly connect with anyone
until I'm connected to myself first.
It's been a process getting back in touchā€”
reassessing what I think, believe, feel,
want, and don't want.Ā I'm still evolving.
I'm not alone in wanting deeper connection.
The process, I named vim & zen.Ā And I feel compelled to share it.Ā
An Analogy
Have you ever plugged your phone in, walked away, and come back hours later expecting it to be fully charged...
...only to find the battery still dead?
The cord was in the phone but never in the wall.
You can spend all day making sure the cable is right and the connection is tight.
But without the power source, nothing charges.
It's easy to assume the problem is "out there."
But sometimes the missing connection is much closer than we think.
