Meet Liz Silvestrini

We were lucky to catch up with Liz Silvestrini recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Liz with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?

Originally, my work ethic came from a feeling of lack.

I was always taught to work hard, party hard. My cultural context made this a workable strategy for a long time, until my body collapsed. I had been practicing as a lawyer in a law firm. I treated work like a drug. It was always there for me when I felt lonely or insecure about myself. Until one day, on my 34th birthday, I could not get out of bed. Like tired anchors, my bones held me down against my will. I was shocked to learn that I was not in control.

To be fair, I had no idea that I was experiencing loneliness, insecurity, and exhaustion. Sure, if I looked deep down, I could sense that something was off, but I had no idea how to “fix” it. So, I figured I’d make the best I could out of my life. Working and partying seemed like the only way to do this. I had a lot of fun with some brilliant people and I wouldn’t trade or change those experiences.

Ultimately, though, something better was calling me forward into a healthier relationship with work, and with myself. My body knew the answer, I just needed to slow down enough to be able to hear what she was saying.

These days, I work as a somatic therapist and a writer. The career change helped me slow down and reconnect with my body, but it didn’t solve everything. There are things I miss about practicing law, and I struggle daily to not over-work as a therapist.

Work helps me feel confident and alive, but I know that I’m not in charge. My work ethic comes from a desire to feel balance in my body. She has the ultimate say over how much I do, and I am learning to trust her wisdom.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I am a licensed therapist and former attorney. Most of my clients come to me initially because they feel anxious, panicked, or overwhelmed about something in their personal life and it’s interfering with their ability to do their job. Over time, we discover that some creative impulse has been stifled and finding expression for this is the key to healing from anxiety.

I use somatic therapy to help people ground into their body, interpret the signals coming from inside, and take action based on their intuitive wisdom and creativity (different from logical thinking, which many of my clients are more familiar with.)

Accessing intuition, creativity and embodied wisdom requires us to be present. Work is often the thing that most gets in the way of our ability to be present. I feel passionate about helping people become “work sober,” which means they can set healthy boundaries around their time and energy, recalibrate their nervous system, and clear out a space for their intuition to emerge.

One of the things that helped me in this process is learning to value my time more effectively. Right now, I’m creating a tool to help people do this. (This was originally the thought experiment that gave me the courage I needed to make the career change. I call it “the Blue Dollars tool.” I’m working with a developer to turn it into an email challenge/software tool.)

If this interests you, you can sign up here and I’ll let you know when the tool is ready: https://creativeparadox.kartra.com/page/bluedollarsignup

Or, you can visit my website to learn more: www.lovingparadox.com

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

Education, Relationships, and Self-acceptance.

My parents paid for me to attend college and taught me the value of hard work. They gave me a solid foundation to start from (and I benefited from systemic privilege). Learning about the world, particularly during law school, helped me feel confident enough to ask questions and advocate for myself.

My first therapist taught me that relationships are how we get hurt and how we heal. I learned it pays to surround myself with people I admire and respect. Emotional connection and creativity are related. A healthy relationship helps each person walk their own path.

My clients teach me that I’ll never know everything. There is always something new to understand. Learning to accept my limitations is what allows me to continue growing.

My best advice for folks early in their journey is to stay focused on what’s in front of you, with only occasional glances up to the mountain you’re climbing. It’s easy to think you’ve made a wrong turn when things get hard and tempting to try to plan everything out in advance. If you can pre-accept that hard is part of the deal and treat challenge as your co-creator, then you can trust yourself to handle things in real-time.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

Right now, I am looking for folks who are interested in learning more/talking about work sobriety and valuing time more efficiently. For anyone creating in this space, please reach out. [email protected]

And, of course, I am *always* looking for heart-centered professionals who want to make a career change, explore existential questions about purpose and the meaning of life, or try somatic healing for anxiety in therapy.

You can book an appointment with me here (Washington State and Utah residents only): https://lovingparadox.clientsecure.me/

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lovingparadox.com
• Instagram: @lovingparadox
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/lovingparadoxtherapy
• Youtube: @lizsilvestrini

Image Credits

Clarissa Mae Photography