From Mortgage Accounting to Reiki with Michele DeCamp

In this episode, Sara talks with Michele DeCamp about the journey through the undiagnosed chronic pain that ultimately led her to leave mortgage accounting and become a reiki master practitioner. Michele shares how she originally followed the traditional path of "success" and climbed her way through the ranks, how health struggles forced her to seek self-care support from an entire team of medical professionals, and how discovering reiki and energy healing opened up a whole new world of possibility and fulfillment that she never could have imagined before. Today, Michele is a reiki master practitioner and teacher and owns Leading Light Reiki, operating in Shoreline and Edmonds, Washington. Want to make your own career change? Download Sara's Seven Cs of Successful Career Change Chart. Sara and Michele Discuss:

• How Sara and Michele met one another at The Creativity Loft
• Michele's early work
• Kicking off her career as her mortgage accounting (in hopes of eventually becoming a graphic designer!)
• Her strong work ethic
• Following "The American Dream" and climbing her way through the ranks
• The sudden onset of pain
• Doctors not being able to diagnose what was going on for her
• Having one surgery, and then going naturopathic
• Struggling to continue working through medical procedures and treatments
• A 10-month process of transitioning out of her mortgage accounting position
• Losing her sense of purpose and falling into depression
• Noticing the connection between her career and her sense of identity
• Her body rejecting a pain relief device that she'd had implanted
• Getting to Structured Functional Restoration Program at Swedish and working with a team of healthcare professionals
• Grieving at the realization that the doctors were not going to fix her
• Receiving a PTSD diagnosis and utilizing hypnotherapy
• Being introduced to tai chi and qi gong
• Starting to sense a strong energy sensation in her hands
• Initially telling herself that reiki wasn't what she was looking for
• Receiving a reiki healing
• Remembering the passions of her youth: astrology, tarot, etc.
• Finding her reiki teacher
• Going to her first reiki class after educating herself for months via books and the Internet
• The energy she experienced in the group being beyond anything she could've imagined
• Realizing her own power to heal
• Her former employers offering that she could come back to work, but realizing it wasn't her passion
• Deciding to start a reiki practice and getting a massage table
• Saying "yes" to the invitation to teach reiki before she felt ready
• Opening up a home office
• Working through her perfectionist tendencies
• Her concerns about what others thought about reiki
• Books Michele recommends:
• • The Art of Psychic Reiki
  • The Biology of Belief
  • The Body Keeps the Score
• The advice Michele has for people who are on the cusp of stepping into new work
• ...and more!

Michele's Full Bio: After early work in retail & bookkeeping, Michele DeCamp found a career in mortgage accounting. She advanced quickly, soon managing a team covering mortgage offices throughout America's Pacific Northwest. She felt proud to say she was a workaholic. One morning, Michele found herself in the ER with sudden, severe pains, and her life changed completely. After more than a year of treatments, testing, and surgery, with multiple employer modifications throughout, she lost her job. In addition to her medical struggles, losing the pace and identity of work was devastating for Michele, and for many years she sought to regain function and satisfaction in her life. While her previous employers kept offering that she could return to work when she was able, mortgage accounting no longer sounded fulfilling. Engaging with her own caregivers had created a deep sense of connection and given Michele a glimpse of what she wanted to share with others. Regularly practicing meditation, mindfulness, qi gong, tai chi, and therapy, Michele began finding wellness and peace. She got into energy healing, and in learning reiki, felt an inner calling toward her new career path. She discovered not only her passion to help heal people, but also help people learn how to heal themselves, and found that adding teaching to her private practice was the perfect way to live her purpose. Today, Michele is a reiki master practitioner and teacher through her business, Leading Light Reiki, operating in Shoreline and Edmonds, Washington. Connect with Michele and Leading Light Reiki: Website: www.leadinglightreiki.com Twitter: twitter.com/MicheleDeCamp Daylight Healing Center in Edmonds: www.daylighthealingcenter.com Connect with Sara McArdle and Women Who Went for It: Facebook: www.facebook.com/womenwhowentforit Website: www.womenwhowentforit.com Nominate a Podcast Guest: www.saramcardle.com/podcast-guest Email: womenwhowentforit@gmail.com (We do not take guest nominations via email. See link above.) Phone: 503.893.2043 Want to make your own career change? Download Sara's Seven Cs of Successful Career Change Chart.