Our Why: Abundancia Tribe Origins

Abundancia Tribe was born out of the desire that I have always had to bring women together, and help them feel empowered, liberated and validated.

In order to bring this into being, I realized that women must first realize and embrace the Abundance in everyday life, as well as in the dreams they may (or may not) have yet realized in their lives. Thus, having lived in Costa Rica now since 2003, “Abundancia” (which means Abundance in Spanish), was born.

What I hope more than anything, is to inspire women who join our Abundancia Community

• to follow their dreams (no matter how wild),
• to release their fears (in the safety of our group),
• to find balance in their lives (both within themselves and within relationships and family),
• to truly nourish themselves (body, mind and soul),
• to explore and connect to their creativity (thus opening themselves to every possibility),
• to transition through perimenopause with grace, love, and support, and
• to emerge on the other side of menopause fully empowered, liberated, and validated.

So, in order to understand the origins of Abundancia, this post is about my story (your humble author and creator of this blog), but more than that, it is about this AMAZING community of women that I have been blessed to have landed in, and in which I happily now call home.

What Got Me to This Point….

I was lucky to grow up with the example of a single mother who always owned her own business, an older sister who didn’t take s#*t from anyone, and also working for very strong women in my first two restaurant jobs (spanning 10 years), who truly ran the show in each business, while their husbands were essentially in public relations.

With these examples of strong women all around me, I think it was inevitable that I would end up as an entrepreneur too, and running the show often on my own.

Having a strong character – which sometimes has been helpful, and other times detrimental – and learning, over time, to be essentially fearless has also helped bring me to where I am today. I have been blessed throughout my life to have had numerous friends, co-workers and acquaintances who were also very strong and fearless, and certainly served as good role models for me (and also told me the truth even when it hurt – bless them!). I hope to serve in that same role to others moving forward.

After finishing graduate school, I continued working as a waitress for another year (I was not yet ready to face the world of cubicles). This afforded me the luxury of visiting Costa Rica for a month to visit my dad – who at that time had lived there for about 15 years. Some friends joined me for a couple of those weeks, and since my fellow travelers were surfers, we were told by nearly everyone we met that we simply had to go visit this one particular beach, Mal País – that up until that point was not too well known outside of the surfing world.

Within a few days of camping on the beach, I had the entire vision for my future ready – I would return, and build and run a hostel and small restaurant. (Of course, I had no money, my graduate and undergraduate degrees had nothing to do with this dream of mine…..but, those were just details…. smile)

So before returning to what would for sure be the the Land of Cubicles (groan), I pitched this idea to my dad. I was 150% certain he would laugh at me, and tell me to go get a “real” job. I was wrong.

I did move back to that beach nearly 4 years later, and I did open a hotel and restaurant (with the financial backing and immeasurable trust of my father). The moral of my story? IT NEVER HURTS TO ASK.

So, I sold all of my stuff, rented out my house, and moved to a country where I knew no one and didn’t speak the language. I oversaw the construction and learned Spanish on the fly (now that was quite comical at times). And even though I had been working in restaurants since the age of 12 (no joke), I had never in my life worked in a hotel….until I opened the doors to my very own! Casa Zen Guest House and Yoga Center was born.

Crazy? For sure. Amazing? ABSOLUTELY.

So I ran that business for 10 years, with the help of simply incredible employees from many different backgrounds and cultures (and without whom, I would not have had a business to speak of). I was living a very comfortable life, my staff had been there for so long that I was barely even working myself anymore, and for all intents and purposes, I had it made.

So, I left. Crazy? For sure.

I came up the mountain into a beautiful community called Monteverde, and instantly fell in love all over again. I had been here as a teenager, again twice as a university student, and had always always loved it up here. So, I moved up here in 2013.

Amazing? ABSOLUTELY.

Of course, I was starting over – being a socialist at heart, I did not accrue a lot of savings over the years with my successful hotel and restaurant. So I decided to try renting out a hotel up here with a friend, to see if we could give it a go. It was fun, and we had some small success, but after 8 months we were in the red, and I was down $2000.

So, I left. Again.

The following year another friend wanted to open a shop selling her artwork and offering yoga classes, and she asked if I wanted to offer food too. My second restaurant was born! The Veggie Bar was technically a vegan, 95% raw food restaurant (but we advertised as “vegetarian” in a pretty non-vegan town) and I LOVED THAT PLACE! I was so proud of it, I loved that a dear friend of mine had helped me build the interior, and I loved that it was all mine – no family, no business partners. After about 8 months (a pattern here?) I met a man and fell in love. After another 8 months, he had decided to move here and wanted to create a Healing Retreat Center, and he wanted to do it with me.

So, I closed my beloved restaurant, and I left. Again.

(By this point for sure you are convinced that I have lost it, no? Smile)

Over the next two years, we built and created an aMaZiNg retreat center, Finca Camino Nuevo, at which I am certain that many, many people will continue to find healing and support. Unfortunately, our relationship did not find such healing and support, and we decided to part ways.

So, I left. Again.

(And now you KNOW that I have completely lost it, right?)

So why do I share all of this with you? To show you that sometimes it is worth it to take a risk. Sometimes it is worth it to walk away when you are no longer satisfied. Sometimes you take a chance, and maybe you lose, maybe you win, or maybe you find love. Sometimes what seems like it will last forever….may not.

But at every. single. turn. there is another opportunity to keep moving forward. To try something new. To push beyond the boundaries of comfort, and find a new road. To be fearless and to trust that it will all work out.

How was I able to have all of this trust?

Starting in 2009, I began to really dig deep and do some work on myself, starting with a 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training. Mind you, this is OUTSIDE of what I did to support myself financially….no, this was very much INSIDE work.

I am talking about inner work. The REAL WORK.

Digging around in all the nooks and crannies, letting go of things which no longer served me, accepting that I did not always have all the answers. Forgiving myself for being wrong, for treating my friends and loved ones badly at times, for falling in love with the wrong guy(s), and for not allowing myself to fall in love with that other guy.

This path of inner work has taken me to many places, I have met many wonderful people, and I have learned many different techniques with which to take out the trash, to let go, to find acceptance, to practice gratitude(!), to nourish myself in many different ways, to learn to connect with myself so that I may also connect with others, to find the courage to be vulnerable, and to find balance within and without.

And there are some days this is easy, and some days it is hard. I am still, and will always be, a work in progress. A perfectly imperfect being, just like you.

And on top of that, I now find myself in perimenopause (yay!), a subject which despite all of my education and interest and reading and knowledge…..I am finding myself woefully uneducated about; this second largest hormonal shift of my life. And the more I research and learn and talk to my friends around the same age, it seems across the board, women are amazingly uninformed about this transition in life.

The Role of Abundancia and Perimenopause

Within the community where I live, the majority of my friends have also been blessed with the time and connections to do the kind of inner work which I have done. I know we are all blessed. And what I desire more than anything, is to share these tools, these experiences, these connections, and the support that we experience every day.

WE want to share them with YOU!

I know from experience that by focusing on this inner work, women will find themselves to be more grounded and therefore better able to handle the symptoms of menopause, the responsibilities of family, the potential of an empty nest, the desire to find a different source of income, the courage to follow their dreams, the strength to make a change.

In addition to this inner work, we intend to educate ourselves about the experience of perimenopause, and will present to you the latest findings and recommendations about how to deal with the symptoms of menopause.

And most importantly, we will embrace and celebrate this wholly natural transition in our lives, validating and honoring

the wisdom of women,

the strength among women, and

the connection between women.

We will be checking in with you weekly, providing additional resources, support, and much more. We are happy to have you join our Abundancia Community! Welcome welcome welcome!