Mission

My name is Jen Levy, and I am a recovering "good girl".

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I've spent most of my life trying to be good. Good at school. Good at achieving. Good at impressing others. Good at fitting in.

 

I worked hard, earned top grades, and put all my pride in my external accomplishments. I believed that if I followed the expected path and checked all the right boxes, I would feel fulfilled and respected by others. I was taught that achievement and external success was the right path. This expected path felt safe. It felt so good to be the good girl.

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When I was 17 years old, I decided my mission was to help women heal. Becoming a doctor felt like the perfect way to do that. I attended a top university, earned a high score on my MCAT, and landed my dream job supporting reproductive healthcare. I thought I was living my life purpose. These achievements and this work became deep, embedded parts of my identity. Everything was going according to plan.

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But slowly, things started to feel off. I didn’t enjoy the work the way I thought I would. ​I watched the women around me give everything to their patients while neglecting themselves. They worked overtime. They skipped vacations. They poured from empty cups until they burned out. And I realized I was doing the same. I was exhausted, disconnected from my body, and numb to my own needs. My enthusiasm was replaced with a crushing anxiety. I felt confused and ashamed - and blamed myself. Why couldn’t I just be happy with the life I had worked so hard to build? I felt that I had failed my once-noble mission to heal women - how could I care for others when I couldn't even take care of myself?

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I turned outside of myself to try solve my problems. Therapy, job hunting, friends, family, books, social media. No one understood. Nothing worked. And everything kept getting worse. One day, I couldn't get out of bed to go to work. My body had had enough. Within weeks, I quit my job and signed up for a yoga teacher training retreat in eastern Oregon, classic quarter life crisis-style.

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During my training, I lived differently than I ever had before. I slowed down. I breathed. I moved my body every day. I ditched my phone. I spent time in nature.  And something unexpected happened. I came home to myself. I didn't even realize how disconnected I had been before. I looked in the mirror and actually saw myself for the first time in years. I saw my joy, my courage, my beauty, my life force. I was present in my body again. I was aligned with myself. I saw that nothing was wrong with me. I had simply built a life around what I thought I was "supposed" to do instead of what I truly desired. I was changed forever.

 

I decided to forget medical school and instead pursued my Master’s in Public Health, with a concentration in Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences. I studied what motivates behavior changes to create lasting, positive habits and growth. I learned how our behavioral patterns are shaped and impacted by all the structural layers of our lives, including the individual, familial, cultural, and societal levels. I researched mindfulness-based interventions for reducing stress and burnout in service providers. I discovered that awareness, emotional regulation, and intentional behavior change could transform how people feel and function.

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Today, I bring these two paths together. I hold the spiritual and the scientific as unified parts of a wholistic, complementary method of holding space for others. I am a life coach, yoga teacher, and health behavior specialist who supports chronically stressed and burnt out over-givers. I provide emotional and mental health support for my clients. I teach caregivers how to care for themselves and fill their own cups.

 

I know what it feels like to chase the "perfect" life while feeling disconnected inside. I know how it feels to give to everyone else before yourself. I know how it feels to be chronically stressed, burnt-out, and despondent over not knowing how to heal. My life shifted into place when I learned how to come home to myself. My work is about helping others do the same. Not by fixing them, but by creating space for deep insight, nervous system regulation, and sustainable change.

 

Because you do not have to sacrifice yourself to care for others. You cannot serve your purpose when you are exhausted, stressed, and overwhelmed. You deserve to feel whole, steady, and fully alive in your own life.

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​And that is why I created Jen Joy Life Coaching. To be a safe space for you to rediscover what has been lost. To reclaim what you cast away. To renounce walking the "good" or "expected" path. 

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I am so happy you are here. Welcome home, my love.

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Jen Joy Levy, MPH, RYT