I spent 15-20 years in design and marketing, performing the role of the competent professional - university educated, raising three kids, keeping everything running smoothly. From the outside, it looked like success.

Inside, I was burning out.

I'd moved to rural East Sussex twenty years ago seeking a quieter life, but life-changing events along the way forced me to reassess everything. Then two years ago, at 50, I was diagnosed autistic and ADHD. Suddenly the exhaustion from masking, the people-pleasing, the constant performance to fit systems not built for my brain - it all made sense. The diagnosis didn't just explain the past, it helped me understand myself and what I actually needed.

I didn't want to fix myself to fit back into systems I could see crumbling. I wanted to build something else entirely.

Now I grow food for self sufficiency. I practice traditional block printing to connect with a meditative craft. I walk the countryside visiting historic sites to ground myself in the land. I follow a path through Druidry and hedge witchcraft that honors natural cycles. Everything is connected - the garden helps me balance my nervous system, the printing connects me to pattern and creativity, the walking roots me in something older than modern systems.

What I've learned is that quieter and simpler actually works. Less consumption, more creation. These changes actively mitigate the damage from corporate culture - to my nervous system, my sense of self, my relationship with the world.

I'm an artist and printer for pleasure. I also work as a gardener in some beautiful gardens. I’m also a single mother of three teenagers. I've built a community of 94,000 people on TikTok by sharing what I'm learning about nervous system regulation, post-capitalist living, and creative sustainability. I approach social media holistically - as a genuine space for connection, not performance.

If you're exhausted from performing and curious what comes next as systems fall apart, I can show you what it looks like to build something quieter, simpler, and more aligned with how you actually need to live.