Nobody taught me how to listen to my body. I had to figure it out on my own.
Six years ago, I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder, a consequence of the immense stress I faced personally and professionally.
If you had seen me six years ago, you might have thought to yourself that I was someone who had their life effortlessly woven together. The fixer. The giver. The connector. The person who could walk into the chaos and bring about order, in perfect timing, before anyone else noticed that there was even a mess to begin with. I led, I delivered, and I held space for everything and everyone who relied on me… over and over again. But what most people did not see was that I was continuously giving from a place of depletion.
I frequently overextended myself, performing through the pain and pouring from an increasingly emptier cup. I lived ignorant to the quiet signals my body was sending… until one day… it transformed from a soft whisper to a scream of agony. It began with symptoms I could not quite explain: fatigue, inflammation, brain fog, emotional crashes. I chased a diagnosis, frantically visiting doctor after doctor until it finally came — I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease — which felt like a simultaneous breakdown of everything I once knew and a long overdue reckoning of who I had become.
My body was reflecting a life lived in chronic overdrive. This collapse then became one of the most pivotal turning points in the history of my existence. Something needed to change… I decided to step away from 30 years of my corporate career with a quiet vow to ultimately create the safe place I once so desperately needed, yet could not find — a space for those who have stumbled across the same path as I have and feel lost in their direction moving forward.
For those who look outwardly high-functioning but are silently unraveling within, not just needing short term bandages for their symptoms but a place to identify and treat the source of those symptoms… a place to truly heal. While at that time in my life I did not yet have the physical haven to retreat to, I gave myself the time and space to put myself first by clearing away the responsibilities within my life… even if only temporarily.
This gift I gave to myself allowed me to meet the parts of my inner being that I hid away from the world. They were formed under the pressure of living in survival – growing up in the shadow of addiction, trauma, and unpredictability. I was able to do the deep, often uncomfortable work that many of us avoid… through modalities such as therapy, meditation, journaling, and somatic movement something remarkable happened: clarity, purpose, and direction emerged.
Throughout my journey, my intention was never to become a speaker, but as I have come to understand, storytelling is one of the most influential medicines for the human spirit. I continue to share my story not because it is unique, but because it is common among fellow high-achieving women, caretakers, and those that make the world go round… I want to express to them that rest is a right and not a reward for a job well done. What I bring to Highlands is not just personal — it it is timely.
It is about what happens when we detach our worth from what we produce. When we stop outrunning our bodies, when we move from survival to self-leadership, and how communities, workplaces, and families transform when we do. This is not a story about burnout, It is about what lives beyond it — regulation, repair, and remembering who we are underneath it all.
— Deanna Farnell
Founder, Highlands in Bloom
