Origins / New Beginnings
Every meaningful journey starts with a reset - sometimes chosen, sometimes forced.
I’m guilty. I’ll admit it. I bought into hustle culture.
For years, I sacrificed sleep to get ahead. I traded time with friends for unfinished to-do lists. I convinced myself that if I could just outwork everyone else - put in more hours, say yes more often - it might be the difference between a 9–5 job and something more. Something freer.
My motivation wasn’t necessarily money, though I wasn’t opposed to it. Who wouldn’t be?
What I was really chasing was freedom.
Freedom from expectations.
Freedom to control my time.
Freedom to live without constantly checking in or asking permission.
But looking back now, with a little more honesty and a lot more clarity, I can see that what I was actually searching for wasn’t freedom at all. It was meaning. I wanted to build something that mattered. Something the people I love - my parents, my wife, my kids - could be proud of.
Instead, I was spinning my wheels. Quietly jeopardizing my mental and physical health in the name of “making it.”
All of that changed on June 2, 2021.
Smack dab in the middle of a global pandemic, while hustling right along as usual, my body forced me to stop. I experienced my first panic attack.
I had never felt anything like it and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.
My vision began to close in. My body went faint. My breathing became shallow. I had no choice but to sit down, convinced I was having a heart attack. In that moment, my body spoke louder than my ambition ever had.
After weeks of tests and follow-ups, the conclusion was clear: it was a panic attack.
That diagnosis marked the beginning of a long, slow reckoning.
I wish I could say the clarity came quickly, that everything snapped into place in a matter of days or weeks. It didn’t. It took years. And if I’m being honest, I’m still on that journey.
At the time, gratitude was the last thing I felt. But standing on the other side of it now, I can say this: I’m grateful.
Because without that forced stop, I don’t know where I’d be or who I’d be.
Every meaningful journey starts with a reset.
In my case, it was forced.
But for you, it doesn’t have to be.
That moment in 2021 marked the beginning of a quieter way of living for me - slowing down, practicing gratitude for both the mundane and the majestic, and simplifying what my days and weeks were actually asking of me. It became about prioritizing what truly mattered, not just what screamed the loudest.
Although we officially launched Sonnal in October of 2025, Sonnal began for me back in 2021.
The desire to help people carve out time and space to focus on what’s right in front of them was born in that moment. What started as a personal reset eventually grew into a shared vision. Along the way, my journey crossed paths with Nick’s, and together we found ourselves building something rooted not in hustle, but in intention.
Sonnal isn’t about fixing your life. It’s about walking with intention into what’s next.
If you’re standing at the edge of a new beginning, or if life has forced one on you, know this: you don’t have to rush it. You don’t have to have it all figured out. You just have to be present for the step in front of you.
We’d be honored to walk with you.
