Six-Orchid Story: Discovering Healing Through Building SILWELL-C

Before I ever decided to launch SILWELL-C, I was already healing.

My healing didn’t begin with a business idea.
It began with my life.

It started during my divorce,  a season where I had to slow down, reflect, read, meditate, and begin the quiet work of loving myself again. I was learning how to seek peace instead of survival. I didn’t know where it would lead me, but I knew I was already on the road toward recovery.

Then, after that process, I faced one of the hardest professional seasons of my life.

There was a major situation at work, an investigation, conflict, pressure — a battle that stretched through the last half of the year. By the time that year ended, I also had surgery on my foot, which required me to be off work for three months.

And that time changed everything.

People might think, “Weren’t you always alone with your thoughts?”
But no,  not really.

When you work Monday through Friday in a management role, overseeing multiple departments, hundreds of children, staff concerns, parent complaints, mental health services, and disability support, your mind is never quiet. You don’t realize how heavy the burden is until you are suddenly not carrying it.

During my recovery, there were days I didn’t have to get dressed.
I didn’t have to respond.
I didn’t have to lead.

It was silent.

And in that silence, I finally had the space to think.  Really think.

For the first three weeks, I was simply alone with myself, and that quiet created space for reflection. I began thinking about the moments in my life when I truly felt fulfilled — not just busy, not just successful, but genuinely content.

That’s when a question surfaced that changed everything:

When have I ever felt deeply satisfied and at peace, beyond my love for working with children and supporting teachers?

The answer surprised me.

The only other time I had felt that level of contentment and peace was when I implemented the preschool wellness program at work.

Yes, the preschool wellness program I had created and led.

I loved it. I looked forward to it. I poured myself into it. When I was told there was no funding, I funded it myself. The coordinators I selected helped support it, too, because it mattered that much. Every extra dollar I had went into that program.

And even though it required work, it never felt like work.
It felt like peace.

I loved watching staff sit down without pressure.
Without expectation.
Without having to carry one more thing.

Because the truth is, we’re never really off work.

When we leave our jobs, we go home to another shift,  families, children, caregiving, and responsibilities. Weekends aren’t rest; they’re catch-up. And if you’re religious, one of those days is already committed. So when do we ever get to be alone with our thoughts?

Almost never.

That time away helped me realize what truly mattered to me: creating space for staff to lead their own wellness — their thoughts, their ideas, their voices. Because I was once one of them.

Even as an administrator, I was still a staff member, just at a different level.

That’s when I made a decision.

I copyrighted the idea.

And then I asked myself: How do I show this vision to others?
How do I help leaders,  district leaders, childcare leaders, and educators see what I saw?

So I began writing.
Creating toolkits.
Shaping a mission, a vision, a name, a language.

And every single day, without me even realizing it, something inside me softened.

I was healing through building.

I didn’t fully recognize how much I had changed until it was time to return to work. When I sat in that HR meeting,  the one tied to everything that had happened before my leave, I realized I wasn’t the same person.

I didn’t need to hold onto anger.
I didn’t feel the urge to fight.
I could see people differently.

I understood that everyone carries a story. And that story shapes how we think, feel, and show up. It doesn’t make someone bad or good, it just makes them human.

And when you can see that, really see it, you become calmer. More open. More grounded.

SILWELL-C didn’t just become a company.

It became part of my healing.

Creating it changed how I lead.
How I listen.
How I move through the world.

It taught me that leadership doesn’t have to be loud.
Healing doesn’t have to be forced.
And peace can grow while you’re building something meaningful.

LEADER TAKEAWAY

This story is not about leaving leadership.
It’s about rethinking how leadership holds people.

The takeaway for leaders and organizations is this:

When wellness is cultivated with staff, not imposed on them, healing becomes sustainable.
Staff-led wellness doesn’t remove accountability or productivity; it restores capacity, trust, and presence.

Leaders don’t need to do more.
They need to create space.

Space for reflection.
Space for staff voice.
Space for wellness that is lived, not mandated.

That space is where resilience grows, for individuals and for organizations.

REFLECTIVE QUESTION

Where could I create more space for staff to lead their own wellness, without adding another expectation?

 CLOSING AFFIRMATION

I lead with awareness, create space with intention, and allow healing to unfold naturally.