How did I get here?
Who Am I?
I’m a counselor by training, a coach in mindset, and something else at heart. As a kid, I was the one who would spend all class time helping my friends with their work, only to run out of time and not turn in my own assignments. At home, I was bored out of my mind because I didn’t care much for fiction books but that’s what I was told to read. I preferred movies because I could get lost in them and could escape into the hero’s world. But even though those movies were fiction, I was always attracted to real-life stories and now I finally understand why. Caring about real life, real people, and real problems is simply who I’ve always been. I constantly want to learn more about how things work, and what moves people and drives them. I know that your view of the world is unique because of your biology and the experiences that shaped your story.
The decisive moment
In 2013, in my mid-20s, I found myself interviewing for a high-level graphic design job at a huge company, and that’s when I realized that my career path of 10 years was not fulfilling. That was the point in my life when I finally said “I’ve had it!”
If you’ve reached the point or feel like you are coming up on your last straw, I want to speak with you.
If you are lost and frustrated in school because you don’t know what to focus on, I want to speak with you.
If you are looking for work and are not finding positions that are right for you, I want to speak with you.
If you are a family member, a friend, or know someone who is in need of direction, clarity, hope, strategy, or someone to talk to, I want to speak with you and them.
So, I quit my design career and went back to school to study my actually passion. Because of that, I have a Master’s Degree in Counseling, with an emphasis on Counseling and Career Development from Colorado State University. Since then, I’ve been providing career counseling to marginalized populations. I’ve led groups as small as 3 to as large as 200 through transformational experiences, all of which were designed to refocus your energy on what matters most to you so that they can enjoy life more fully.
When I decided to start my private practice, I was consumed by a thought that I later called the invisible maze. I kept noticing a pattern with all of my clients. While all of their lives were different, with different personalities and life goals, they had a thematically similar problem but could not describe it. Since it could not be explained by a diagnosis, the curious child in me wanted to find a way to explain it. So, I decided to call my company the invisible maze, because that’s basically what they are describing to me. They were describing a world that feels like a game but isn’t, that seems straightforward but is till confusing, and a life that feels puzzling because there is no right way for it to be solved.
The idea that changed my life
If I wasn’t clear, the maze is your life. You have a maze, I have a maze, we all have a maze, and each person’s maze is different. With different challenges, opportunities, objectives, etc. and your best tool to navigate this maze is called your feelings. Learn to notice your feelings, analyze your feelings, and then trust your feelings. Remember that a broken clock is still right twice a day, and a flawed understanding of your emotions will yield results but not accurate and useful results.
You can notice the maze best when you are feeling stuck. Maybe you feel stuck at work. Maybe you feel stuck with a decision. Or, maybe you feel stuck because someone close let you down and now you have to do it all by yourself. The stuck feeling is a great time to notice the walls of your maze. You’ve likely gone down a path that led to nowhere and now you cringe at the thought of having to go backwards. It’s okay that this happens. It happens to everyone all the time, but I’m sure you want to know what to do when you feel that way. First, we’ll identify where you are and what’s going on. Then we’ll reflect on what got you here and where you might have misstepped. Until finally, after tracking your steps, we’ll find a new path, a new possibility, or a new strategy that will get you where you want to go. It’s scary. It’s hard. It’s difficult. That’s what makes a good story and that’s what makes it worth it.
Why should you trust me?
The short answer is that you should trust yourself. Get to know me and figure out if I’ actually going to be the right type of support for you. I’m not going to just listen and ask you how you feel, that’s simply not my style. I won’t charge you hundreds of dollars for assessments that don’t help, products that don’t work, and tools that aren’t useful. You’ll be in control of these sessions while my role is to guide you through the process and help you notice the clues to help you navigate your maze on your own.
My name is Rick and just like you, at heart, I’m a complicated person. My purpose is to help you find your purpose and then help unleash you so that you can become successful and satisfied in the life you have designed.
I’ve had it with boredom.
I’ve had it with dissatisfaction.
I’ve had it with trading my time for money.
I have had it!