I was in the corporate arena before training as a psychoanalyst, and now I do practical psychoanalysis, depth-informed coaching, with many business leaders.

Being a leader has big hidden costs. The workplace can amplify the symptoms of anxiety, anger, conflict at work or at home, ADHD, emptiness, or compulsivity with substances, sex, media and other ways to check out. They can often be traced back to underlying conflicts and early trauma.

The women and men who come to work with me often feel they’re being chased by a pack of wolves.

Pressure from the board. Pressure from market changes, hiring problems, a deal that fell apart. Pressure from conflicts at home. And pressure from the inside: anxiety, emptiness, exhaustion. Stonily facing another day at work, and haunted by the ways that, long-term, living this way is endangering your health.

A lot of the people I meet with are so used to running hard that it’s difficult to remember being relaxed, contented, or simply enjoying themselves. I sometimes hear,

“I don’t have time for feelings.”

And their days speed past as if they’re not really there while life is happening.

That’s a lot to sacrifice. And there often comes a moment in our work, a point of discovery, when people say,

“I want to live before I die.”

What it will take are some of the strengths that got you where you are today: courage, a hunger to learn, and the drive to invent new ways of approaching old problems.

Give me a call if this sounds right. I’d be happy to chat about your particular situation. If we decide to work together, our aim would be to slow down and look at the pressing problems you face, work them through, and help you learn how to bring your heart with you when you get out of bed, play when you’re working, and move toward the things you want instead of just running away from the things that worry you.