Sara Sweat, MA – Founder & CEO, Mindshift Advisors
Most of the highest performing professionals I work with – are also trauma survivors. People who have been through hard things, done the hard work to heal from them, and even carved out some success for themselves.
They’ve got the polished résumé, the high‑stakes title, or the calendar that never quits. On paper, they’re crushing it. They radiate competence, resilience, and ambition. But inside? They’re exhausted. Frustrated. And, wondering “when will it ever be enough?”
My Story
I know this story well, because it’s mine, too. As a trauma survivor, I spent decades building a career defined by excellence. I led teams, built divisions, and achieved triple digit growth in some of the most challenging environments in business.
I leveraged the skills that kept me safe in my trauma to work harder, faster, and smarter than anyone else. And, in a lot of ways – it paid off. Until it didn’t.
Because success built on survival skills still feels like survival.
Eventually, the very tools that had empowered my career started burning me out. Because coping mechanisms are designed to help you cope…temporarily. But, they’re not a way to live.
Surviving Your Life
When trauma survivors become high performers, they can build remarkable lives – but end up surviving them, instead of living.
- We build our identity around our performance. “Doing” becomes our only metric of worth. The next goal. The next milestone. And soon enough, who we are without the achievement gets lost.
- We disconnect from our inner world. We get so good at reading the room, assessing risk, and pivoting our approach – we lose sight of what we actually think, feel, and need. We have 12 brilliant ideas before breakfast…but also forget to eat breakfast.
- We keep all the plates spinning, because rest feels… dangerous. Vulnerability feels like weakness. Rest feels like failure. And, delegation just feels like more work. So, we pile on the pressure until we break.
Why Healing Isn’t Enough
The healing offered through counseling, spiritual practices, and somatic exercises is life changing. Had I not had access to services like these on my journey – I honestly don’t know where I’d be. They are necessary and important.
But, what I found for myself, was that even after investing in my own healing – learning how to set boundaries, & build a life of relative safety and peace – I still felt stuck. Like, I’d done all this hard work and all I had to show for it was a boundaried, safe, relatively lifeless life.
I was still feeling overwhelmed by the monotonous routines of every day. I was still letting the mess pile up and then rage cleaning my house. I was still numbing or distracting myself – even when there was nothing left to numb or distract from.
Most of all, I just kept thinking “is that all there is?”
It was like someone had turned down all the colors in my life. I was safe – but I wasn’t actually enjoying what I’d worked so hard to create.
I had no idea where to go next or what to do – because all I’d ever done was survive. Now that there was nothing left to survive – I had no idea how to actually live.
Monarch Rising
I was like a toddler, stumbling around, learning how to walk. Asking questions like “How would an untraumatized person handle this holiday?” Or, “How do people who haven’t been through traumatic loss shop for groceries?”
I knew I was ready for more, but I felt like my compass was completely broken and I didn’t know where to start.
The hard truth is we are not the same people on the other side of trauma.
Whether what happened to you was a singular event that brought loss, shame, or confusion – or a chronic circumstance that saturated you in toxic relationships, abuse, or perfectionism – what you went through changed you.
But, who you are now – on the other side of what you’ve survived is not less than you were before. You are, in fact, so much more.
That’s why your life doesn’t fit the way it used to. That’s why you’re not sure where to go or what to do. Why life feels like you’re walking around in too small shoes and an ill fitting coat. Why you’re craving comfort – even though nothing is wrong.
You have grown. You have changed. You have learned.
Like a wobbly little caterpillar who’s become something new, you’ve woken up with wings. And now, you have to make space for who you’ve become.
You Are The Monarch
I had to get to know who I was on the other side of what happened to me. To learn how to feel hopeful again. To allow myself to feel excitement, joy, and happiness without expecting a house to fall on my head when I did.
I even got a Masters degree in Counseling just to make sure I understood it all – which, for the record…you do not need to do.
I learned how to gather all the gold from the hard things I’d survived and use it to create a life I could actually live.
I founded Monarch so other high‑performing trauma survivors could stop surviving their lives and calling it success. So, they could get their color and vibrancy and joy back – and actually live.
Monarch is a 12 week group coaching experience that was designed to be the easiest three months of your life. It includes:
- A community of people who get it — leaders, doers, high achievers who carry trauma’s weight but refuse to stay trapped by it.
- Guided frameworks to reconnect: with your emotions, your body, your inner truth — and to learn how to live from that place of wholeness.
- Permission to pause, to feel, to slow down — not as a sign of weakness, but as an act of real strength.
- Radical recalibration: shifting from “What’s next?” to “What matters?”.
Your Next Chapter Is Easier Than You Think
You built your success on the survival skills and coping mechanisms that saved you. But, they’ve already done their job. You’ve earned your ease.
You don’t have to choose between success and joy. You can have both.
You’ve already done the hard part. Now, it’s time to enjoy the flight. 🦋
If you’re ready to begin the journey — to transform your pain into power and rediscover your capacity for life — Monarch will meet you there. We are accepting applications for our January cohort now.
Book a time to learn more.
