Eventually, I began learning about other resources and approaches that felt more aligned with what I needed. And then I ran into another barrier.

I couldn’t afford them.

I know what poverty feels like. I know what it is like for something that could help you to simply be financially out of reach.

But I also learned something else as my life changed.

There were seasons when I was making good money, paying my bills, taking care of my responsibilities, and by most people’s standards doing well financially. Yet there were still healing experiences, programs, retreats, and resources I believed could have deeply supported me that I could not reasonably afford.

That taught me something I will never forget:

Being unable to afford support does not always mean a woman is poor.

Sometimes she is supporting a family.

Sometimes every dollar already has somewhere it needs to go.

Sometimes she can afford her life, but she cannot afford thousands of additional dollars for the support that could help her change that life.

And sometimes she has spent so many years putting everyone else’s needs before her own that investing that much money in herself simply isn’t possible yet.

I understand all of those women because, at different points in my life, I have been those women.

Eventually, I found life coaching. I already knew how to support people, but I wanted to understand how to help people transform. That desire led me to become a trained Health and Life Coach.

Through my own work, I gained practical tools. I began recognizing the coping patterns I had developed to survive. I learned healthier boundaries. I gained perspective. And I began understanding that just because something helped me survive one season of my life didn’t mean I had to carry it into the next one.

Today, my life is different.

I have peace.
I have joy.
I have tools that changed the way I live.

And as I began helping other women do their own work, I kept thinking about the women I used to be.

The woman who wanted help but didn’t know where to find it.

The woman who finally found something that felt right but couldn’t afford it.

And even the woman who eventually became financially successful but still couldn’t justify or manage the cost of every resource that could have supported her healing.

What happens to her?

Does she just keep waiting?

Does she decide that support is for people with more money?

Does she convince herself that because she is functioning, working, paying her bills, or taking care of everyone else, she should be able to figure it out alone?

I don’t believe she should have to.

That’s why I created the Phoenix Nest Fund.

I cannot remove every barrier a woman may face. But I can work to make finances one less reason she has to keep postponing herself.

Because needing financial support doesn’t tell me how successful you are.

It tells me that the support you need and the resources you have available don’t always meet at the same time.

And when they don’t, I want there to be another door.

— Tia Truss
Founder & Life Coach, Phoenix Nest Coaching