The Burnout Breakthrough: Navigating Life's Initiations with Lara Ferreira | Ep 74 - House of Peregrine

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Hi, I'm Michael Weber, founder and auteur of House of
Peregrine. Expat, immigrant, pioneer.
None of these were a fit, but Peregrine describes that we are
all about perfectly those that craft their life story with
intention. I've spent the last six years in
awe of the life changing connections and stories I've

(00:23):
experienced while living abroad and believe it is time for this
adventure to be recognized, celebrated, and elevated to the
life stage that it is. Through these interviews, I hope
to connect those living internationally more deeply to
both the place they are living and with themselves and those
around them. We cover everything from
international finances and meaning making to global

(00:46):
parenting and relationships. To make your time abroad more
intentional, edifying, and full of beauty.
Find us at houseofperegrine.com where you can find more ways to
connect with the ethos of Peregrine.
I hope you enjoy today's guest. Let's get started.
Hello everyone, and welcome backto the House of Peregrine
podcast. I'm your host Michael Weber, and

(01:08):
today I'm sitting down with a guest whose journey speaks to
the courage of transformation. My guest is Laura Ferretta,
coach, facilitator, and founder of Mindful Experiences.
Originally from Brazil, Laura built her career in the
corporate world before facing a burnout that led her to find her
life's purpose. That period of unraveling
eventually became a doorway intodeeper work, one that guided her

(01:31):
from a life defined by performance and expectation into
a life devoted to alignment, presence, and purpose.
Today, Laura supports others navigating their own journey to
purpose through coaching retreats.
Cacao ceremonies and microdosingpractices.
She also shares openly about herown journey including the
sequence of events like COVID, acareer misalignment, a divorce

(01:54):
and a move abroad that led to a wake up call in the form of a
burnout. Now she teaches her clients ways
in which they can find integration in every part of
their life with purpose through holistic mentoring.
In our conversation, we explore burnout and many crisis as we
may experience in life, as initiations, not as something to
romanticize, but as an invitation to necessary change.

(02:17):
We talk about alternative modalities for personal insight,
what Laura is seeing in her clients and workshops that
speaks to the collective, and how different approaches,
whether through plant medicine, ceremony, or simple presence,
can help us uncover what lies beneath the surface.
This is a conversation about endings that make way for
beginnings, about courage in themidst of loss, and about the

(02:39):
healing paths available when we choose to look within.
OK, let's begin. Thank you so much for joining me
today, Laura. It's such a pleasure to have you
on. Thank.
You for having me, I'm very excited.
After the introduction, I want to start first with your story.
Can you expound a little bit on what led you to this path of
coaching of? Course, I would say that it

(03:01):
started 11 years ago when I was feeling a lot of dissatisfaction
in my, in my career at work. I worked, yeah, for 15 years in
marketing for global companies. And I was back in Brazil really
feeling stressed. And I would look to my managers,
directors, CMOS. And I couldn't see myself in

(03:22):
that journey in the long run. I couldn't feel motivated to, to
get there. So I started reflecting.
So if I'm not going to do this, what am I going to do then?
I don't know. I don't have any other like
hobbies or aspirations or, or, or interests that I could turn
into kind of a career. So that was really, yeah, scary.

(03:42):
And because I was also feeling so like stressed, I decided, OK,
I don't have the answers right now, but I know I need to start
taking better care of myself, ofmy health, especially my mental
health. So I started this journey of
both taking care of myself like Wellness journey, but also the
back of my head. I needed to find a purpose, some

(04:05):
sense of meaning for my future. So I started as well at the same
time career transitioning coaching program to start
mapping other possibilities. So that was kind of the start of
this journey of personal development.
But at some point, I couldn't really find which direction to
go. I had more or less like 5

(04:27):
possibilities, paths, but I couldn't feel in my heart which
one to to further invest my time, my energy.
So I just kept going, working incorporate, feeling unhappy,
knowing that that wasn't my path, but not knowing which one
it would be then. And then, yeah, life kept going

(04:49):
on. I knew I wanted to live in
Europe more permanently. I've I was living in Brazil, but
I've lived before in London and in Sweden.
And I knew as, let's say, a lifeambition or life plan that I
would like to live mostly in theNetherlands due to most of the
lifestyle and searching this work life balance, which I

(05:10):
didn't have back then. So yeah, I'm I, that was my life
plan. But then COVID hit and I felt
like, OK, now my life plan, there's no life plan anymore.
I don't even know if I'm going to survive this pandemic because
we were in that phase of what's happening.

(05:31):
But see, I saw that as an opportunity as well because then
interviews were taking place fully remotely.
So I started applying for jobs in the Netherlands, even though
I was in Brazil. And ultimately I got a job here.
I moved here with my ex-husband at a time and for me was like,

(05:51):
yeah, it's a fresh start. I'm going to be happy.
I'm going to find myself in marketing career in a different
culture or environment. That would be great.
But that wasn't the case. And the more, let's say
successful I was, the more like higher job roles title, the more
money I was making, actually, the less happy I was.

(06:12):
And On the contrary, like my health was being even more
jeopardized by the lack of satisfaction coming from the
lack of purpose or feeling like I was.
Yeah, using my my full potentialat work or that that was
something off. Even though on paper everything
seemed amazing, living abroad, living the expat life, making

(06:35):
money, traveling. But yeah, I was really feeling
like numb and disconnected and ultimately that led me to a
burnout. And that was my wake up call.
And I hear this so much and I often find myself wondering, and
this is not necessarily only I'masking you, but do you think

(06:55):
corporate life is good for anyone?
I think anything can be good to anyone when there is a match,
when there is an alignment and when it's done like consciously.
So if you know about who you are, what is important to you,
what drives you, what motivates you, and then you can find the

(07:16):
the right environment for that. And even like corporate can be
also so broad. So there are different company
cultures, there are different company sizes, setups from more
traditional to recent startups. So I think you can find yourself
in the corporate, but it's really important that the person
knows about themselves and what is important and in which

(07:39):
environment they will thrive themost.
Yeah, so I just talked to too many creative people who weren't
aligned with corporate. I have the same.
I see a lot of people not happy in corporate, but then again,
it's a it's a matter of match, yeah.

(08:00):
Yeah, I love that answer. So I want to ask you about you
and I spoke earlier and I'm really, I we talked about
burnout a lot, a House of burnout, a House of Peregrine
and also in the world. There's a lot of talk about this
and what I'm noticing is a move towards understanding it more

(08:22):
and more deeply as not necessarily only maybe negative
thing or a problem or a symptom of a problem.
It's a little bit similar to like menopause, how people are
starting to look about menopausewhere it's like, wait, it's not
just a negative, it's actually ayou move through it to something

(08:45):
else. And So what I want to talk about
with you a little bit is these initiations that we go through
or our body puts us through or some greater force brings us
through. How do you see that?
Yeah, I see every, let's say, life challenge and opportunity

(09:06):
for change. So when we are, when everything
is good, we don't see the need for change, we don't see the
need for improvement. Even our brains trained not to
change anything at all. It's really made for us to be
optimized. And once we learn something,
then that that process of learning, it stretches our
brain. But once that's done, it's like,

(09:28):
OK, now I know it. We're going to just do it as it
is and let's not waste energy anymore.
But then if there's an external factor or something changes on
the way, then it shakes our system.
And then it's a moment to reflect.
OK, what does it mean? Do I need to make change?
So in the case of, for example, burnout or as you said, like

(09:49):
physical body experiences, either.
Yeah, maternity or menopause or the other situations, there are
always an invitation to look, look inward, to reflect about
the future. What is this calling me to do?
What is this making me? Yeah.
Stop and reflect. So even like burnout is really a

(10:13):
process of you, you shut down your system, shut down your
brain, but also usually the body.
Usually the body is the one giving signals.
And then we don't listen to it to the point that we can't
really think or yeah, or do anything else anymore.
So then it's like, OK. Would you describe it?

(10:33):
Would you describe it as something like the body then
shuts your brain down like it kind of takes so?
The cortisol levels of stress are so high for such a long time
that the body can't really work function anymore.

(10:54):
The brain can't function anymore.
So that people experience that this in a different way.
Some people really cannot reallyleave the bed in the morning.
Some others can't think properly.
They get a lot of like brain fog.
And it's. Yeah.
So it's, it starts affecting thethe brain and the body.

(11:15):
And one, of course it's affectedthe other.
Yeah. And do you think that I think
there's far earlier warning signals than brain fog, not
being able to get out of bed. But we're just not in our
culture. We're trained at least.

(11:36):
You were raised in Brazil. I was born in the US.
Maybe they're similar. Feelings do not matter.
We push those aside and only trust our thoughts and logic.
And so that gets a lot of us in trouble, I think now at this
point. And So what?

(11:57):
What are the ways that you find?I've learned some from myself,
How my body tells me knows. But what do you think the
earlier signs of burnout might be, according to your clients?
Well, one of the clear signs areenergy levels.
So really feeling tired or crawling in the bed, really like

(12:18):
don't feel like waking up or getting up and not having energy
to exercise. And then you get into this kind
of loop of I don't have energy to exercise and then I'm not
exercise could give energy. But yeah, you just simply don't
have energy at all. You'll get home from work and it
can only go to the sofa and and scroll your phone or watch
Netflix and that's it. And you leave kind of waiting

(12:39):
for the weekend as the only source of, you know, motivation
or happiness or joy to come. So, yeah, energy level sleep,
the quality of the sleep, havinginsomnia or not being able or
really waking up at 4:00 AM and not being able to sleep anymore
because you're so already in distress mode and your mind is
spiraling. Some digestive, like your

(13:02):
digestive system can be affectedgood health.
So it is really important also to take care of that or to be
aware on what's happening. And overall, I would say immune
system, like if you're getting sick very often, your skin,
yeah, really looking into your body.
Yeah, my story was very interesting because I didn't

(13:23):
have a job at the time, which was the number one no for me,
but I was making it in parentingwith three toddlers moving
abroad. Everything was moving.
I was remodeling a house and I just, my body just shut down,
could not feel my face, could not feel my body, but I was
still functioning. I was still able to power

(13:46):
through, which is not a good thing.
But you can't quit parenting andyou can't quit mid remodel of a
house. You can, but it's harder to do.
And So what I've tried to learn from that experience was to
recognize my nose way early and my capacity doesn't always match

(14:10):
my desire. And so for me, there's a
mismatch between capacity and the ability to hold stress and
my body's ability to do that andbe the way I want to be in day
to life. So the way I want to be with my
kids was is now my guide for if I'm able to do something.
So if I can hold this, then I can hold more.

(14:30):
And so it's kind of an interesting process or has been
for me to go through it through the portal of pleasure.
Like if I'm still experiencing pleasure then I can expand my
capacity but not until then. That's beautiful.
Yeah. Balancing the desire with the
capacity or checking in if you have the capacity for all of the

(14:54):
desires and managing also the. Well, because I was trained to
put my desire aside, then I havea ton of capacity, and a lot of
people do. If you don't pay attention to
your tiredness or your anger or anything else, you can have a
ton of capacity until you don't.Yeah.

(15:15):
And it's beautiful to settle. So about like, yeah, what is
your priority? And that is also a source of joy
and energy, so that recharges you, so you have more capacity
for the other desires. It's so true.
And So what I want to know was your story of that when you, I

(15:37):
mean, you have the big four here, COVID, which is everyone's
layer here, but then you were ina career misalignment and a
relationship mis misalignment, if I can say it that way.
And then you'd just move country.
And I was expecting that this moving abroad would fix all of

(15:58):
the others in a way, at least the marriage and the career.
Yeah, talk about the moving country, thinking maybe it would
fix everything. That's, that's excellent.
Often we believe that the environment is the issue, right?
So we, we as human beings have this tendency of blaming the

(16:22):
external or blaming others or situations and not looking so
much inward or what? How did I got to this situation
or what can I do instead of waiting for others or a better
job or a nicer company or, you know, Yeah.
So for me, that was the biggest learning, one of the biggest

(16:44):
learning on this journey. I was really hoping because that
was a right in my life plan for the long run to move abroad.
So I was so happy that I was going to make it.
And my marriage started not working so well since COVID.
So in a way I thought like, OK, there will not be COVID anymore
and we will create a new routinethat we both really want to.

(17:04):
So that might help or solve the issue as well as the career.
I was like, yeah, I'm going to be happier because I'm moving
into a country where the work culture has a better fit to my
what I value what, what are my values?
Yeah. So at this point, I just want to
give an example. What did you what at that time

(17:25):
can you remember? What did you think the problem
was? The problem was my lifestyle in
Sao Paulo in Brazil, which was working 10 hours a day, traffic
jam, 2 hours in the car every day, having very little time for
exercising, being always in a rush and just living the life on
weekends where I had to fit everything, like personal, let's

(17:48):
say appointments with meeting friends and family, with
spending time with my my partnerat the time.
So I think the issue was the whole lifestyle, trying to fit
everything into a routine that was not sustainable.
So being able to live here and have a better work life balance,
I would have more time and spacefor the other things.

(18:10):
So I think that was yeah, the problem and the solution that I
was expecting. Yeah.
And would you say that that was partially true?
Yes. So then when you took that layer
away, you still had your marriage, your career and
yourself. So then when that didn't solve

(18:33):
the problems there, you were able to look deeper.
Definitely, yeah. I had more time to reflect
instead of just being in the survival mode.
Yeah, definitely. Yeah, I like to believe that we
can do all of this work in an environment like that.
But I like to also sometimes wonder if I'm if that's true.

(18:58):
So I like to think of it in layers.
So you took that layer off, Problem still there,
misalignment still there. And so then where did you start
looking next? Was it career?
So no, actually, well, the career was already, I was very,
very hopeful that with an European or Dutch working

(19:19):
culture, I would feel more satisfied in my career or find a
job that would be a better matchthan the ones I had back in
Brazil. But then ultimately I was
really, yeah, that was not my path.
So it doesn't matter which job or environment or company or or
management, I I wouldn't find the satisfaction anywhere.

(19:45):
So I think that was the it's. Because it wasn't aligned.
Yeah, the, the environment, the the, the ways I would say maybe
in, I haven't worked for examplein startups or in a different
setting. I've worked mostly in
traditional, let's say corporateglobal companies.
And yeah, I, I believe that thatwas the mismatch is that the

(20:05):
ways of working in global big companies.
So in that, that sense, I couldn't find myself in, in I
liked the marketing like the what I was doing, but there's so
many other factors that I didn'tfit my values.
So that that's the thing there. Was a game I wanted to play.
Yeah, yeah. I'd like to think of it in terms
of the games you're willing to play.

(20:26):
Yeah. It sounds really funny.
So even though you liked what you're doing, maybe even the
people you're doing it with, something about it was
misaligned. Definitely, yeah.
And so you started exploring that.
Was a mix of factors I would say.
Yeah. And then did that new awareness
that you started having with your career bleed into the rest

(20:49):
of your life, this awareness when you start waking up to
these awarenesses? No, definitely.
I think that's also why I could identify that I really needed a,
a shift, a bigger shift I'd say,because I had that awareness
that I was not in the right place or path in terms of
corporate for a while, for like a decade.
But as I couldn't find what elseI would do, I kept being in a

(21:16):
disalignment aware of it. So that makes it even harder.
Yeah. So at some point, yeah, then
burnout happened and I was like,OK, that is the last drop.
Like that is the wake up call orlike I really cannot keep
working like this. I need to now find my direction
like yes or yes. Yeah.

(21:38):
Can you go back and talk about that phase of knowing you're
misaligned and doing it anyway? That's incredibly interesting.
So slowly feel your way through explaining that and what LEDs to
breed, what leads to burnout. Yeah.
So yeah, for me, was this when Iwas looking my future I I knew I

(21:58):
didn't want that anymore, but I had no clarity.
It was like just blurry of what else could I do.
So I started a career coaching transition long time ago, like
yeah, 10 years ago. I mapped a few possibilities I
thought of working with like travelling something in the, in
the travel industry or any, a few other possibilities based on

(22:22):
my interests and what give me, you know, like motivation.
And like, yeah, I would do that even for free in a way.
But I need to find ways to pay my bills.
So how I can transform those interests into something to
income? But I couldn't really find which
one exactly because I was not soconnected with my my heart.
I would say I was not balanced. So I wasn't stressed because I

(22:45):
was working in a very stressful environment.
I was not connected so much withspirituality.
I was actually starting this journey of inner connection and
outer connection before I was completely Yeah, not connected
at all, not engaged in any sort of belief.
So for me it was a combination of really first finding this

(23:07):
balance in my health so I could be in a better state of mind and
body. Then I started this journey of
spirituality, I would say, combined with the personal
development, kept doing coaching, therapy, really
learning about myself and havingthat clarity on if I don't know
what I want for sure, I know exactly what I don't want.

(23:27):
And that was shaping my future decisions and actions.
But then, yeah. And with burnout, I was like,
OK, now I need the, I have and Ineed the time and the space to
go deeper because while you are in the stress, stressful
environment, you don't have thatspace to connect and find the
clarity that is within. So for me, it was really

(23:50):
important to take this time, go deeper.
And then I, I use different techniques as well or, or yeah,
tools such as micro dosing psilocybin to help me remove a
little bit of the mental noise, especially from society
expectations, my own, you know, like judgement on what, what am

(24:10):
I doing? How am I taking time off and
take care of myself and find my life purpose?
Like what is this, you know, just find a job and you know,
keep keep living life. So yeah, I needed a lot of
tools, especially I think a blend of mind, mindset and mind
tools from therapy and coach connected with the holistic ones

(24:33):
from microdosing plant medicine.So I could I only found the
clarity or the answer or felt that the right path once I
managed to balance both not onlythe logic but also the the
feeling and yeah, this interconnection.
Yeah. And as we spoke before, that's
kind of what you would describe as your strength is this

(24:56):
analytical way of going about things.
Yeah, at the end of the day, we are rational beings and when it
comes to big life changes or career changes or any big
change, we need our brain, our system needs to feel safe.
And safety comes of a sense of control and clarity.

(25:16):
So I believe it is important to put things on paper, make a
plan, have structure, but not only.
You also need to feel inside of you that that is the way that is
the path. Because otherwise, when a
difficult situations come along,come along, you really need that
inner strength that you, even ifyou don't know if it's going to

(25:37):
work or not, you have this like,but I feel it.
And this is something that only comes from, yeah, this kind of
inner connection and not just from rationality.
Yeah. Right.
And and I think that that's whata lot of people have this
realizations right now, the way we've been kind of socialized or

(25:57):
taught. And it's what's highly valued is
this analytical ability and feelings, especially if you're a
woman, they just don't matter. You're irrational, selfish,
whatever words we've all been raised with.
But don't, don't listen to them.They'll take you astray.
And so the power that the collective, I believe is finding

(26:23):
is this combination of body, intuition, mind, and not getting
rid of our intellect, but givingit far less credence than it has
been given. And So what for you?
Were you doing this by yourself or were you using coaches?
How did you come to this I? Had a lot of support and guides

(26:45):
so I had therapy that really helped me with the emotional
support and finding also the root causes of of everything
because burnout is a reaction from misalignment from even like
the triggers that are usually connected with childhood traumas

(27:05):
and everything. So for me, therapy really helped
to understand what, how I got, Igot to that situation and
coaching helped me with the future thinking and planning and
same possibilities, seeking direction, putting things on
paper, like not only from what Ihad in my mind, but also having
other perspectives. And the, the third pillar was

(27:29):
the spiritual inner connection that I got from holistic
practices. So joining, yeah, like kundalini
energy work, doing cacao ceremonies.
And most of the, the main thing,what really helped me the most
was micro dosing. The cycles of micro dosing
because those holistic, let's say events or practices, they

(27:50):
happen, they take like one hour,2 hours and then you do it once
a week. But micro dosing is something
you do for like one or two months and you have a clear
intention and that is building up over time, building
neuroplasticity, building a new fault pattern.
So that's when change can reallyhappen.

(28:11):
And I think that micro Dosing iskind of a buzzword in a way, but
that doesn't make it not useful.And the way that you you were
using it and learned to use it is a way, I want to know how you
see it. Is it a way of getting a little

(28:33):
bit past our defenses or is it an actual difference, like a
different path? Well, the way.
Into our conscience. The way I see it is it helps to
remove the mental noises, especially from beliefs that are
not ours. So we are able to don't give

(28:58):
importance of things that are not really important to us.
There are things from society orfamily or whatever.
I think that's one thing that isvery important when we are in
this journey of discovering ourselves, of connecting and
finding answers from winning. And when you micro dose into a
cycle, you have an intention. So it's also a way to go deep

(29:23):
into that, that whatever it is that you're looking for or you
want to change or transform. So it can be used either for
connecting with your intuition or it can also be for really
opening your mind for new possibilities and having clarity
and more like this creative expansion part.

(29:44):
So it would really depend on what is your, your intention and
your need in a way. It also helps titrate that in a
way any of those things, becauseeven expanding expansion or
having a goal or intention, there are still triggers there.
And so it helps you like a little bit of support to titrate
into these bigger these experiences that might seem big

(30:07):
to your nervous system, that might be a small step in the
grand scheme of things. So for me, I think it helps with
that, just getting you a little bit of support to titrate into
these things. It's it's one tool, just like
many others, available to help you uncall for who you are and
what you want and how to get there.

(30:32):
Yeah. And so you use this in your
coaching, which I really love because, but why don't you tell
me how it works for your clientsand tell me why you find it
powerful. You don't only work with micro
dosing, but it's one tool you have.
So describe how it helps your clients, how you use it.

(30:54):
Give us the good. Yeah, well, usually I guide my
clients in a journey that startsfrom taking care of their health
first as a first step, really finding this balance in your
body, sleeping better, having energy, because then you're
going to be in a good state of mind and body to go through this
journey of going within, taking possibilities, being open to,

(31:15):
yeah, maybe like confronting situations or possibilities that
might come along. Because change, change is never
easy. And thinking of new, new ways or
solutions. You always have to give up on
something and that's where it gets uncomfortable.
So the first step is always like, first, let's find balance.
And then not necessarily micro dose needs to be part of that

(31:38):
step yet. And but then we go to the second
stage, which is getting insights, learning about
yourself, really self-awareness,really the personal development
part. Then micro dosing can play a
very big role because it will help the person really remove
those layers and judgements and really, yeah, accepting who they

(32:01):
are instead of thinking that they should be something that
they're really not. So I think also micro dosing can
help with this compassionate element of acceptance and deeper
connection because you're less in your mind or judgement mind
and you're more into your whole.So that from that moment on the

(32:25):
micro dosing can really help in that sense.
And usually how I guide people is I really explain everything
about micro dosing, how it is, how the cycle is going to going
to look like, how they will findtheir dosage and that will be
there like during the process. So I can they can really, we can
really exchange until they're comfortable with the dosage
they're doing, what is their intention, which protocol

(32:46):
they're going to follow. So there's a lot of like
education in the first one or two sessions in this process and
then they do it as a kind of daily practice during the course
of four to 8 weeks and then go to the third stage of the of the
program, which is really fine inthis direction.
So what is it that you want to get out of this?

(33:07):
Where do you want to reach? What is you can reflect on your
ideal lifestyle? What are your goals for the long
term and how you can bring that to the short term?
What should be your next step? That is the clarity moment of
clarity and then once it is clear what you want to get,
where you want to reach and thenwe make a plan.
So the last stage is about creating this road map with the

(33:30):
next steps and action plan wherethey will start following with
my guidance at 1st and then theyjust keep going with their life
and up to the point where they reach what they want to reach.
So micro dosing would be something that would start as an
educational in the first one or two sessions and then with

(33:50):
guidance on the on the intentionand how is it going the dosage.
And then at some point the the the cycle would end and that
would be somewhere between they got the clarity or they are
already taking action into theirdesired goal.
Yeah, and this is a repeatable pattern.

(34:14):
Once you learn this, you can do this then for your next goal and
check in with you or with the coach.
It's a new way of bringing aboutchange from within.
Yeah, in my experience with psilocybin or micro dosing is,
it's incredible to me how littleI actually feel.

(34:37):
It's incredible how you look back at your day and go, it was
just different and there's no feeling of being on something.
And so it feels very, I don't know how to put it natural in
that way where even if I take Tylenol or ibuprofen, I feel
affected. If I take allergy medicine, I

(35:00):
feel affected. If I drink alcohol, I'm blunted.
And so this was new for me because I grew up somewhere
where this stuff is illegal. It was very even a process to
come to that, that this is not going to affect me the same way
it can if you take enough. But if you stay in these micro

(35:22):
dose levels, it's incredible hownatural it feels.
Is that something you're a lot of your clients have?
Yeah, usually, sometimes even people feel a bit disappointed
that they're not feeling anything.
But that is the concept. Like if you are feeling
something that means your dosageis not right, you shouldn't feel

(35:44):
anything. So it is really tiny dosage,
around 5 to 10% of a regular macro dose.
And it acts really in the background.
So you wouldn't feel much happening in the first maybe one
or two weeks. But as you are monitoring and
you're journaling and you're, yeah, seeing how it goes with
your energy levels, with your sleep, with your overall

(36:08):
well-being feeling, and you lookback after 4-6 weeks from the
beginning to where you were at the moment, you're going to see
like, wow, actually that is shift is happening.
Even if I'm not feeling or like I'm not so aware on my daily
life, but if I look back, I can see that the improvement.
So it's like any other like practice, like stretching.

(36:29):
Maybe you don't feel super like loose when you stretch for 2-3
days. But after two months and you
look back like, wow, I can do a lot.
And that I couldn't do two months ago.
So it's the concept of building something consciously, but not
necessarily big. Seeing the big shift happening

(36:50):
is not, it's not a magic feel. That's the concept.
It's not a magic feel. Yeah, but it is an incredible
support or boon. It's like having a personal
trainer if you're trying to stretch and the combination of
doing it right and having insights and making sure you're
tracking is part of it. But that was my biggest surprise

(37:12):
about micro dosing. And I think when people, when
we've done it with House of Peregrine before for micro
dosing challenges, people are actually scared to take the
first dose because of the association with hallucinations,
these sort of things. But that's not what you're
after. These are not deep dives.
These are really holistic support in the form of a plant

(37:36):
medicine or whatever we call it.Exactly.
Yeah, it is a support that can speed up or and deepen the
process and also for more like long lasting effect in a way
because the way cells have been acts in our neural system is
that it promotes neuroplasticity.
So the change or the improvements that you get from

(37:58):
this process, they will not you.It's harder to fall back into
old patterns once the changes there.
So it's also used a lot for treating trauma addiction.
So it is very powerful even though it's septal.
It's septal, but powerful. Yeah, which is beautiful.
OK, So what other modalities arehelping your your clients right

(38:23):
now? I want to go into that, but
first I want to see collectivelywhat are some of the things or
themes you're seeing with your clients right now?
Post COVID, the world is very different than it is now, 10
years ago. You're very different.
So what are you seeing in your clients?

(38:44):
Yeah. What are some of the things?
Say that one of the big shifts, not only from my clients, but
maybe from society, is that we started reflecting more about
what matters in life. So before we were just living
kind of this. I took autopilot mode and then
we took the moment we had the moment in my way.
We're forced to reflect. Wow, life can end at any moment.

(39:07):
There's so many things outside of my control that can happen
and I can just die. And then like, am I living a
life worth living? So I think that's kind of the
first reflection that happened with a lot of people and most
people that I work with as well.And especially that came very
strongly this this reflection regarding their career, the

(39:28):
satisfaction that they have on when going to work.
So a lot of people feel they would like to do something that
feels more meaningful that they are using their time to energy
for something that it's worth itfor something that gives them
energy, not just drains their energy, that's something that
where they can use their full potential and not only go there

(39:49):
for the paycheck. So I believe a lot of people see
that work, their time and energyon Earth is so valuable that we
need to make it worth. And of course work is important.
We need to have means for payingour bills.
But how to make that happen in away that don't drain but it's

(40:10):
more balanced? I'll take this as the main,
yeah, the main topic that my clients struggle with, how to
find this balance between incomeand satisfaction.
Yeah. And this concept of something
giving you energy instead of just training you, it is
incredibly different than how weare raised as to be more of a

(40:34):
contributor to an outside thing if you are raised a certain way.
How do you conceptualize that for people?
Because of my own life, I didn'tbelieve that at all at first.
That what gives me energy and itcame to me actually in a my own
psychedelic journey and it was in within relationship.

(40:57):
So it's like if it's working, itcreates this Infinity sign where
it's giving and taking and giving and taking.
But if it's only taking from you, you can't.
It's like physically impossible almost to give.
And we talked about giving from an empty well, all this stuff,

(41:17):
but viscerally experiencing thatone of the ways to do that is to
burn out. But just that belief that it's
possible to have that generativeexperience with something you
make money at and sustain your life, that's a big cultural
belief that we're overcoming, I think, at this moment.

(41:41):
Yeah, I think nowadays we live in a sort of privileged moment
in history where we have that opportunity to find out a way to
balance both, whereas maybe backin the day that wasn't really a
possibility. And that's why this is a belief
that it's so like strong in society from maybe our parents,
grandparents. Before it was really about

(42:02):
survival mode. But now with technology, with
like with the Internet where youcan really do a lot and and
learn a lot and everything's possible, that also brings this
kind of overwhelm. Like, OK, so how do I know also
if I I found a sweet spot, because there might be other
possibilities and other ways to be even more happy, satisfied,

(42:24):
make more money or, or match those.
But what I see is that. Yeah, tell us, how do you know?
Going inward and having a lot ofclarity on what is important to
you, I think that is always the,the, you know, the baseline.
So for some people, having satisfaction from work is not

(42:44):
important. They have all their sources of
satisfaction that are enough andthen they can just go to work
and do whatever and that doesn'tdrain their energy or there is a
better balance. So maybe they get that energy
from relationships. That's a lot about knowing your
why. It's really about knowing your
why and kind of also the battlesyou want to fight or the battles

(43:07):
that are important to you. In my case, Korea was very
important, like doing something that brings me some sense of
satisfaction. It's very important because I
work like 810 hours a day and that's half of my my life
basically. But for some people it is not.
They might have get satisfactionfrom hobbies, relationships and

(43:30):
other sources of satisfaction that then the work has a lower
level of importance in this container.
So it's always about understanding your container,
what are the energy drainers, the energy givers and how you
can find a good match. Yeah, and in my own life, this

(43:51):
is a very interesting. I always say that women live
more than one life at once. And so I think you do work with
a lot of women. Is that right?
How do you help them conceptualize their values in
each container that affect each other?
So you everyone has 24 hours in a day.
You don't get more if you're a woman.

(44:12):
No idea why, but there are more expectations on your time,
especially if you're a mom. Even if you're not, how do you
help people conceptualize that? Because for my own life, I get
extremely frustrated when admin takes over my life as a parent.
But it's necessary and my value is to be very involved in my

(44:36):
kids lives and for them to succeed in whatever they would
like. But admin, I swear to you, if
someone offered me a place on a desert I went with no e-mail, I
would take it. Yeah, I hear you.
Yeah, that is actually the challenge of the modern world,
right? Because we want to do so much.
We have this ambition of living joy, but also, yeah, we have, we

(45:00):
want to have a house that works properly, it's tidy and clothes
are clean and food is made and healthy food is made from
scratch. So because there's so like, much
knowledge about the best ways todo everything, and usually women
are very ambition and ambitious in that sense.

(45:21):
We really want to do things properly and the best possible
that we create this impossible ideal routine, let's say, and
then when we don't deliver, we really feel feel frustrated.
So what I usually. Well, what I've experienced is
other people feel very disappointed.

(45:43):
So teachers will say, why didn'tyou answer my e-mail within 24
hours or your kid if it's not printed out, you know, whatever.
So like there's this expectationthat I have tried really hard to
reject of perfection, but it's almost like that's being tested

(46:04):
by everyone being and my kids being the ones that receive the
consequence of me doing these tests.
And that's super interesting to me because I've hired
assistants, I've have AI tools, I have all these things to
minimize the things that I want to do as a mom and maximize the

(46:25):
other things I want to do as a mom.
Things like emotional support, homework help, being there for
them physically, emotionally. The admin seems to be part of
something I can't escape. So how do you help people with
these types? It's a block.
Right, Of course, each situationis.
It's a situation. On one hand, it's a bit like if,

(46:50):
if you are, if you're doing whatis important to you and to the
ones you love that are affected by by that, and that should be
somehow enough and enough to don't bother so much about
others expectations. So for example, in this case,
like why you haven't replied to the e-mail, maybe you know that

(47:13):
was it wasn't so necessary, so important, that wouldn't change
much the well-being of your children.
So you can just don't bother let's say in a way about that.
It is easy said than done Definitely and.
It was revolutionary. Apparently.
Yeah. But also I think that's that's
all about like setting boundaries and focusing on your

(47:36):
non negotiable and in your container.
Otherwise, how good of a mom would you be if you're so
stressed because you have so much admit, how will you be able
to give them emotional support, you know?
So once it is clear what are what is important to you and you
are delivering that, then the rest we will.

(47:58):
We will at some point as human beings not be able to do
everything we want to do, but doing it consciously and
knowing, like choosing our battles.
Then that means you have the ownership, you have agency over
your life and the well-being of others instead of just, you
know, trying your best to do everything and something will

(48:20):
not work well and then the consequences might not be the
best. Yeah, I'm working on a big block
of being able to be a woman the way I want to be.
And so it's a very big block. I hope others are working on it,
But I think work with the work, the work you're doing
translates. Like you said, when your work

(48:40):
started working in your career, it affected your relationship
and showed you what was misaligned there.
And this is now almost 10 years of working on my misalignments
since living here. And it's really fun to find
others working on these problemsin their own lives.

(49:00):
But it can be a bit lonely, so it's nice to have people like
you or coaches around that are supportive, even if they don't
know where you're going. And also important to be kind to
ourselves like we will of coursealways strive to 100% but
sometimes we only deliver 80% and that's fine.

(49:21):
But then other times also deliver 120.
And, and I have this cousin she's amazing.
She is like CMO and big companies.
She has a loving nice family. She has hobbies, she sings, she
dances. And then at some point I was
like, I asked her like, how do you manage to do all of that and
be good at everything? Because she's such a nice person

(49:44):
as well. And and she was like, well, the
secret is I'm not 100% on everything all the time.
So some weeks I'm a great mother, some other weeks I'm a
great professional and other weeks I'm a great in my, with
myself as a person, as a woman and my hobbies.
But I'm not 100% all the time with everything.
So I kind of choose my battles daily and that's how it goes.

(50:12):
So she's an excellent multitasker.
I think she's an excellent chooser of her consciously
choosing yeah when and how she will deliver and when and how
she will not deliver and live inpeace with it.
Yeah, yeah, that's good. And acceptance is part of this

(50:32):
process over and over again. And when you're clear on your
values, it's a lot less effort to do everything.
And when you're letting go of things that don't align, that
frees up more energy for the things that do and rinse and
repeat for the rest of your life.

(50:52):
Like that is what I've learned. So when you're walking people
through this, I want to just askthis last question.
We might have time for two more.When you're walking people
through the process of finding their purpose, maybe with their
career or within their values, do you find that there's a fear

(51:13):
of their demons or their entire life falling down?
How do you walk people through that?
Definitely. I think fear will always be
there. And because it's the fear of the
unknown, you, you might know what you don't want, but maybe

(51:33):
the clarity of what you want or how to get there, it's not
clear. It's not so tangible yet.
And that again, because our brain is so trained to make us
feel safe all the time. And then when there is
uncertainty, our brain and thosevoices in our head will be like,
no, this is not safe. You don't know how it's going to
work, if it's going to work. So that's when the fear appears.

(51:58):
How to navigate it? I think this clarity is key on
what is it that you actually want or don't want first as a
first step, because then you start building your non
negotiables. Like this is for sure something
I will not consider, I will not do anymore is not going to be
part of my life. So that is already that.

(52:20):
That also feeds your brain into,OK, this is clear.
Even if something is unclear, this is clear.
So that already gives this senseof safety.
And then when you start navigating what is it that you
want or how to get there? Maybe there is still some
uncertainty or things are blurry.

(52:40):
But if you can feel in your system, in your intuition, in
your gut that this is the direction, then the the nervous
system also relaxes and start trusting more, even if trusting
in the unknown. But it when this connection,
this, this feeling of clarity, certainty, it's, it's in this

(53:02):
case more like as a feeling and less of knowing.
When this is so strong, then you're really your system
relaxes. And that's when the fear starts
turning into courage, into excitement.
And that's the energy you need for change.
You feel inside of you that thisis the right thing to do, even

(53:25):
though you don't know yet the details, but that is enough to
keep going. Yeah, yeah.
And I think the thing that no one tells you is you're going to
have to let go of some things, and they might not be the things
you expect. But on the other side of that is
a lot of relief. And that if someone would have

(53:48):
told you moving to Amsterdam or to the Netherlands would have
changed your career, your partner's partnership and you're
everything you know about your surroundings, would you have
still done it? That will be a big yeah.
That would be tricky to to step into such an unknown future.

(54:12):
Definitely. Probably not.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
And so I think there's two typesof people in the world, those
who are fine jumping into that big whatever goes.
I'm not one of them by the way. But then there's those of us who
just need to make the change we see in front of us and then go

(54:34):
on the life journey of creating a life we want.
And that a lot like the micro dosing happens step by step.
And so that's what I want peopleto know is that following your
feelings or your impressions or your intuition or what your
body's telling you will naturally lead you very gently

(54:58):
usually into what your next step.
Should be what I used to tell people is that use your your
fears or the questions that you have that don't have answer yet.
Look at them as with curiosity and start asking yourself more
of those questions. Start reflecting more instead of
just pushing them away because it is scary.

(55:19):
And then you just keep in this kind of freeze mode.
So whether you're questioning, Idon't know.
Should I move, not move, start questioning more What makes me
want to move? What makes me don't want to
move? What are my fears?
How I can tackle them if they ifthey happen, like create a worst
case scenario, best case scenario in between scenarios.

(55:39):
And then the more you reflect, the more the answers will start
popping up. Yeah.
And what do you do when you cometo the big realizations?
How do you help your clients? So when you I assume there was a
moment or 100 or 1000 where you realized your relationship was
not going to survive, are those the moment specifically you need

(56:06):
support? I think that's very individual
and depends, I think on of course, the situation.
Some people like my profile is the with the kind of person that
wants something is very clear. Then it's clear.
I don't overthink. I don't, you know, keep
ruminating that. But I know that for some people

(56:27):
this is like it's it's a process.
It's it's kind of a grieving, you know, letting go of
something and building somethingelse with more like, yeah,
attention and care. So that is it would depend a lot
on the personality of the person, but that's what I think
be aware that you will change require you need to leave

(56:50):
something to give space for something else.
So it's always about letting go of something.
So that's something else. There's this beautiful, I don't
know, message. Someone told me once like open
space for magic to come to your life.
If you just want to be in control and everything like then
then there's no space. But if you open space then no

(57:12):
one knows what happened. Maybe magic can happen.
Yep. And what would you say for
someone who has been signed up for this deep dive through a
burnout or through any other ending or physical illness or
challenge? They didn't sign up for this.

(57:35):
They didn't sign up for this journey into the soul.
What advice would you give them?I usually, I say see it as an
invitation and if you are in this victim mode, take the
agency and transform it into an empowerment mode.
What can you do? What is within your

(57:56):
possibilities to transform it and see almost as a yeah, new
start. So like you're not broken and
there's nothing wrong with you or just misaligned.
We're just in the wrong place, maybe with the wrong people, and
that letting that go opens spacefor alignment.
So really going inward onward and seeking for what?

(58:20):
What is it? What?
What is the need from your soul and what can you do about it?
Well, that's a lot of acceptanceand maybe grieving, especially
if you didn't sign up for a burnout and your body is just
saying no, you didn't ask for this.
You didn't ask for a spiritual journey or whatever the journey
turns into. So maybe I would add potentially

(58:45):
to allow yourself to feel angry,disappointed, sad, not ready for
that phase to end, or angry at yourself for not being strong
enough or whatever you're limiting belief is.
I think that's an OK starting point if you have not initiated
this journey. Definitely, yeah, and rest and

(59:07):
take time. Or if you haven't signed up for
it consciously anyway. Yeah, really, definitely and
really take take the time, rest and reflect and be kind to
yourself. That's that's the always the
first time. Yeah, easier said than done
sometimes, but necessary. That's often the invitation,
right? Yeah.

(59:28):
Yes. OK.
Lastly, I want to ask you about different modalities you use.
We talked a lot about micro dosing, but you're skilled in a
lot of other modalities. If someone doesn't want to go
that route, tell me a little bitabout that as we close out.
Yeah, my approach is holistic. So I like blending the mind

(59:48):
work, the mindset building usingneuroscience tools, which I call
like micro habits for micro shifts.
So really working on consciousness awareness.
So that is one of the, the approach that I blend together
with the body part. As I mentioned, like, look,
listening to your body is the first step, balancing your

(01:00:10):
health. It's also very important.
So the combination of both are crucial for for yeah, change and
transformation and depending on the person's like beliefs also
bringing elements of emotional connection going deep into.
Yourself but also maybe being open for the unknown or outer

(01:00:32):
sources let's say the mystery exactly like the magic belief
that magic can happen that is already a big step so by.
That's one of our four pinnaclesat Pasa Peregrine.
Magic is really exactly so. It's a matter of belief that
comes to the first step of the mind and mindset.

(01:00:52):
So that's why I like blending a different approaches because I
believe that the combination of those help because we, we as
humans, we are whole, right? We are not robots, We are not
just a body moving and we have asoul.
So how can we use the wholeness of us in the process of change

(01:01:13):
and improving and building the life we want to live?
Yeah, and we contain multitudes,so it's not just one part of
you. Exactly.
Yeah, that's beautiful. And that combination, utilizing
all of those in different ways, like you said, using the
client's belief system, they're so any spiritual.

(01:01:36):
What do you consider spiritual? Because I know a lot of people
are triggered by that word. You don't mean religious?
I. Don't know, I don't mean
religious. Well it depends for me.
Spiritual, it always, it dependson the person's beliefs.
So it can be about religion if if that what resonates to the
person. It can be about energy, how you
feel when you are in certain situations with certain people.

(01:02:01):
It's always kind of it's usuallymore connected to feeling.
But to feel you have to really go inward, like close your eyes
and see what are you feeling, how you're feeling, where are
you feeling? And then some people really feel
when they feel connected to something like universal
spiritual world. So it it would really depend on

(01:02:24):
the person's belief. In my case, it's more on the
spirituality and universal forces rather than religion.
But not nothing against religions.
I think they serve a purpose. And if it's for the good, it's
for the good of the well-being. Yeah.
Yeah. And I think there's something in

(01:02:44):
there about if you don't have rituals within religion, finding
your own rituals that help you connect to that's that sense of
the mystery or that sense of thewhole or feeling more connected
because that's where a lot of strength comes and a lot of
compassion. OK.

(01:03:05):
So finally, I want to just my last question is about what I
think is an extra layer to personal growth, which is living
in another country. Do you see a lot of people who
are living abroad and if you do,what are the themes you see them
dealing? With, yeah, most of my clients
are expats, there are, I would say, 2 main challenges.

(01:03:28):
One is the one we've been discussing here about the career
alignment. Often there is a high
expectation where you're moving abroad that you're going to, you
know, have happiness out of thatnew job.
That's the main reason why you are moving abroad.
Usually it's about as an expert,at least it's about career.
So if that is not a good alignment, that brings a lot of

(01:03:51):
frustration. And then you don't have support
system because you're just new in that country.
You don't have a network to evenfind another job because also
again, you have to build that over time.
You don't have emotional support, your family and
friends. So if the main reason why you
are abroad is not working well and you don't have other pillars

(01:04:13):
to support you in this process of dissatisfaction, then that is
one of the biggest, Yeah, I'll say struggles.
And the other one when career isfine and they're happy with the
work. Usually it's the lack of deep
connections, real friendships. They find it hard to meet
people, to meet like minded people.
And then they finally meet people.

(01:04:34):
But then either they after a while they move abroad again or
they go back to their own country and then they feel
lonely again. Or it's hard to keep the
connection or to rebuild something more that they feel
like supported and someone they can rely on if they need.
So there's also this big sense of, yeah, lack of support, I'll
say. Yeah, I like to call it a lack

(01:04:57):
of authenticity, like authenticity is missing instead
of support, which is in there. But especially if you have a job
you love and especially if you're a little bit high profile
or higher up in the corporate ladder, you have a lot to lose
through being authentic. And when you move to a new

(01:05:18):
country and it's hard, it's hardto be authentic if your life is
and say this is everything's going right.
But this I'm having a really hard time.
And when you move back from living abroad, it's really hard
to say it's hard being back because of course, your loved
ones, your network, they're so happy to have you back.

(01:05:39):
And most of you is happy to be back too.
But you miss, you might miss yourself that was there.
And so support is a word people often use, but I find it not
complete in a way. And so is that something we can
recognize and mourn and come home to and be intentional about

(01:06:01):
as we move throughout our. Journey as definitely there is
this big invitation and maybe a shift of identity when we move
abroad. And then if you move back again
because everything is changing all the time, right.
So when you move abroad, you areyou create almost like a new
persona because you are working in a different language.

(01:06:22):
So the way you express yourself might not be the same, 100% the
same. You are learning how to navigate
that new culture and work culture.
So it's a lot of learning and adapting.
And often people also wear some masks because they want to feel
that they belong in that new environment.
So then you kind of create a newversion of you.

(01:06:45):
And after a while, if you would go back to your home country,
then how you know you're not your old self anymore because
you learned a lot, you experienced a lot.
You incorporate it, you change. Yeah.
So then it's almost like you he create.
It's an invitation to recreate again your identity in a way.

(01:07:05):
Yeah, I think it's a brave thingto do, not just physically, but
as you're saying, it leads to this inevitable change.
Even if you aren't in a different language, you're
learning stuff about yourself, your own culture, what you do
and do not want. You're integrating a lot of
things. Even if you're if you don't feel

(01:07:26):
integrated, you're integrating things in yourself.
It's like a very long psychedelic journey.
Like you're, you're in a hot seat of personal growth.
And depending on how you grow, it could be emotional growth, it
could be career growth, any number of ways of growing.

(01:07:48):
But to say you're going to change is an understatement in
my experience. Even if you don't change
anything in your life, in your environment, the world is
changing technology. So there's always, there'll
always be change and you will change either consciously or
unconsciously. So knowing what what is
important to you and sticking tothat, it's it gives this safety

(01:08:14):
that our system needs. That's such a good way of
putting it, knowing your yeses Nos, your values, your things
you will and won't do give safety.
I really like that. And it's true whether you're
living abroad or like you said, staying at the same place your
whole life because as love people to remind me AI is coming

(01:08:37):
whether or not we want it or not.
Yeah, good. Well, you've given us so much
today. I think we didn't even cover
half of what we can. So maybe you can come back on.
Is there anything you want to share in closing that we haven't
gone over well? I'd like to appreciate the space

(01:08:57):
to share a little bit of my journey and my clients struggle.
Maybe that can be helpful, insightful for others going
through similar journeys. Now I would like just to invite
your audience to either join oneof my in person events here in
Amsterdam if they're open to or interested in learning not only

(01:09:21):
about yet mindset neuroscience, but also experience plant
medicine with cacao ceremonies or psilocybin micro dosing, but
also my journey. So if anyone is feeling really
stuck or in breeze mode and feelthe urge to do something but
it's it's fearful, yeah, I'm here to to guide and help.

(01:09:44):
It's amazing. And how can people find you?
What's the best? You can find me on LinkedIn,
it's Lada Ferreira. We'll put that below, but go
ahead and spell. It Lada Lara, Ferreira SE double
REIRA all. Right, you've got it.
We'll put the link below. Reach out to Laura if you are

(01:10:06):
feeling stuck. You work remotely and in person,
is that right? Awesome.
Well, thank you so much, Laura for joining us today.
And thank you so much for everyone who's listening for
joining us today on the House ofPeregrine podcasts.
We will see you next time. And please follow and like and
join us on our YouTube channel, on Spotify or anywhere you find

(01:10:29):
podcasts. OK, that's it for today.
I hope you've enjoyed our show. The latest insights on living
internationally. Join us at houseofperegrine.com
to find out how you can connect with our community.
Let's craft our life story with intention, together.

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The Burnout Breakthrough: Navigating Life's Initiations with Lara Ferreira | Ep 74

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}The Burnout Breakthrough: Navigating Life's Initiations with Lara Ferreira | Ep 74