In October 2020 during the height of the Coronavirus pandemic, Joanna Grayson sold most of her belongings, loaded her SUV with a few remaining personal items, and walked out the front door of her home with the intention to travel to new places, make interesting connections, and engage in adventures big and small…and she has not looked back since!

Like most people at the time, Joanna was frustrated with the isolation and uncertainty that plagued “the new normal” of our chaotic world, and she realized that she was focusing too much on past disappointments and losses while simultaneously harboring immense fear about the future. In a word, she had become STUCK.

This prompted her to embark on a healing journey where she examined her life from the very beginning…a childhood fraught with emotional and physical insecurity and an adulthood peppered with challenges, such as failed relationships, the untimely deaths of loved ones (three of whom died violently), and battles with multiple sclerosis and cancer (both in remission), just to name a few. Fascinated by the neuroplasticity of the human brain, Joanna believes that most individuals experience dissatisfaction because they are not exercising their ability to train their brains to help create the lives they desire. Resources for the information she has learned have included neuroscientists, psychologists, and other clinicians and researchers, as well as shamans, yogis, reiki masters, mystics, witches, and teachers and followers of world religions. Joanna has attended academic lectures, spiritual retreats, and healing ceremonies to gain insight into why we are here and how to navigate life’s challenges without allowing them to destroy our lives.

When we refuse to do the work to identify the programming we were fed in childhood and our subsequent co-dependent behavior patterns, we repeat cycles that prevent us from reaching our highest potential. Joanna has learned to cultivate joy in her life, set boundaries with others, tap into her intuitive and empathic nature, and let go of her past. One of the most important life lessons she has learned is that peace, happiness, and joy cannot be achieved by external influences (people, things, situations), but rather these must be cultivated and maintained intrinsically.

Since becoming a digital nomad, Joanna has enjoyed gorgeous scenery and natural wonders, experienced people from all walks of life, and lived in unique environments, such as a casita in Mexico, a ranch for rescued sheep in Sonoma’s Wine Country, and a lake retreat in the Pacific Northwest.

Many people fear change and are unwilling to embrace it, much less entertain it. Joanna feels that change is the catalyst for our soul’s growth and accepting the premise that nothing is truly permanent breeds expansion, and thus freedom. As British author Virginia Woolf wrote, “A self that goes on changing is a self that goes on living.”