Meet Rachel Lavin

July 30, 2024

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rachel Lavin a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Rachel , we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

Finding my purpose came from a lifetime of feeling alone. Feeling betrayed by my own body for more than four decades had me stuck in a diet culture mindset. I kept asking myself why cant I be happy? During a pivotal time in my life turning 40 it became clear that I was the one standing in my way from being happy! I had attempted to change many times before with temporary results. This time was different, I knew I had to start at the beginning and deal head on with all my trauma. This time I didn’t stop when it got hard, this time I kept going until I learned who Rachel was. That it really wasn’t about the size of my body. I did not know how to love myself and once I began to understand that my whole life began to change. I learned that not only my body was a gift, but so was my life! I knew it was my destiny to help other people feel whole and love themselves different size bodies and all. My purpose is to help women and men feel whole in their own bodies.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I have found that wanting to be a happy person eludes most of us. We are programmed to believe that we don’t deserve it. Knowing how hard that can be myself I often point out to my clients that they are choosing to stay stuck. I will always meet my clients where they are at, I believe it is important to point out that we are the creator of their own lives and it can seem impossible to see that in the beginning. It takes work to get there and it is not going to be easy but it can be done. I love that I have myself as an example to use because its authentic and real.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

I know that I had to start at the beginning and go back to my childhood. I was in therapy and I also tried many of the things that swirl around in the self-help world. Some things like writing it out helped me. What really helped was learning how to feel my feelings and then let things go. We all tend to hold on to things forever. Instead realize that the experiences we go thru are a part of our story not the whole story. I believe it is important to try all kinds of things on the road to healing and at the same time give yourself permission to let something go if it isn’t working for you.

There is one thing I stand by without a doubt when a person wants to heal. Learning how to speak kindly to themselves. We all know what that inner chatter says and it’s awful! To retrain your brain to speak supportively and with love takes awareness and time but it must be done. No one will ever influence you more than yourself!

Tell us what your ideal client would be like?

My ideal client is anyone who wants better for themselves. A woman or a man who from this day forward wants to live out the rest of their lives happy and feeling whole. Someone who isn’t going to let the scary past get in their way of finding peace. Knowing it’s going to take work and understanding that they have to do it for themselves. I’m here to walk beside you. I will support you, cheer you on and empathize with you when it gets tough. I will believe in you everyday, and be excited for you while you learn to believe in yourself.

About Bold Journey

 

Every problem or dilemma we face has been faced by countless others in the past and so we wanted to create a place to have conversations around those challenges – be it finding a way to thrive after divorce, bouncing back after a layoff, overcoming imposter syndrome or developing the ability to ignore haters.

Living life boldly means exposing yourself to all sorts of risk – risk of loss, risk of criticism and judgement, risk of mental, emotional, or physical distress.  It’s no wonder, so many of us are raised to not live boldly, to not take risks, to not push ourselves to reach our highest potential.

In our view, one of the best ways to deal with those challenges is to learn from the stories and experiences of others.  We think it’s insane that after thousands of years of human civilization, it is still so hard to find stories related to the problems you might be facing at any given moment.  Our mission is to create a space for all of us to learn from each other.  We believe the stories, experiences and insights of our neighbors, friends and peers are worth more than all the wealth in the world as these stories are the most relevant and authentic sources of wisdom.

Our love of the storytelling format comes from our founding of VoyageLA almost a decade ago, where we ask folks to share the story of their lives and how they got to where they are today. As we’ve expanded to cities across the country, we’ve been blown away by the realization that there are so many lessons and so much wisdom within our communities – but not nearly enough coverage.

There is so much we can learn from each other and we hope these stories inspire you to pursue your passion and support those who are doing so themselves.

Bold Journey Magazine – Stories to help you reach your full potential