One of the reasons I don't subscribe to alignment culture, which has become so prevalent in both mental health and spirituality spaces, is because starting Venus House was not something that necessarily felt aligned with me.
As a mental health professional with years of experience across different settings and populations, the idea of creating something that challenged the conventional boundaries of my field was daunting. I knew that my work would likely be questioned, judged and potentially put me in a position where I felt the need to defend or justify what I was doing.
But the moment you start trying to prove your value, you hand over your power. I knew taking this path meant I'd have to tune out the noise and refuse to get dragged into defending what I do. And I chose to build Venus House anyway.
That tension is why I reject the modern obsession with alignment. I think we've taken the idea a little too far. While I deeply value both mental health and spirituality and believe wholeheartedly in the work I'm doing at Venus House, I wouldn't necessarily describe the path here as one of alignment. The things we're meant to build don't always come with an overwhelming sense of certainty or ease. They can ask us to move forward through discomfort, uncertainty & and the (strong) possibility of being misunderstood.
If I had waited for the perfect moment of alignment to launch Venus House…………I don't think Venus House would exist.