FROM BURNOUT TO BREAKTHROUGH
A Journey of Healing by visionary facilitator and coach Yancy Wright, CEO/Founder of Casa Alternavida.
Seattle winters can feel endless - the grey sky, the heavy air, the endless rain. Looking back, I realise how much that environment mirrored what was happening inside me. The pressure to succeed, to do more, to prove myself was relentless. I carried it in my body - tight shoulders, shallow breath, sleepless nights. Stress was a constant companion.
I was consumed by work, leading innovative green building projects for high profile companies, pushing for sustainability, making a name for myself as a leader in the industry. But inside, I was unraveling. I had constructed a thriving career on the principles of resource management, regeneration and energy efficiency. But my own resources were rapidly depleting. I was running out of fuel.
Then, my body did what my mind refused to do: it stopped me in my tracks.
The breaking point came unexpectedly at a mayor’s climate summit. As I stood before the audience, my heart fluttered, my vision blurred, and I passed out. Months later, a similar incident landed me in the ICU with atrial fibrillation. Staring at a clipboard, releasing the hospital from liability if the procedure to restart my heart failed, was a wake-up call.
I didn’t know what I was looking for at the time, but I knew something needed to change, drastically.
“I left. I traveled to retreat centres around the world, stepping into unfamiliar spaces in search of answers. I spent time in silence. I sat with Zen Buddhists. I immersed myself in indigenous healing practices. Each place, each experience, undressed layers of armour I didn’t know I was wearing.”
SEARCHING FOR HEALING
One of the most profound lessons I encountered was that emotions are energy in motion. I had spent years denying stress, swallowing anger and ignoring my physical exhaustion. But emotions don’t disappear just because we refuse to acknowledge them.; they find another way out - through tension, illness, or simply, a steady erosion of joy.
Now, for the first time, I allowed myself to feel - fully, without judgment. As I peeled back the layers, my true passion and purpose emerged: I wanted to create a space where others could find what I had been searching for. A retreat center that wasn’t about escaping life but about reconnecting with it, with nature and with our life purpose as leaders.
This introspection would eventually lead to the creation of Casa Alternavida in Puerto Rico - a sanctuary for leadership transformation nestled in a tropical paradise. But the journey from confusion to clarity and creation was neither straight nor without obstacles. First, life had more lessons.
REBUILDING AFTER THE STORM
Casa Alternavida was starting to take shape, both in my mind and in the physical world, when two massive hurricanes hit Puerto Rico.
In 2017, Hurricane Maria left behind more than just physical destruction - it disrupted lives, plans and momentum.
In that forced pause, I made a decision: While I waited to move forward with the retreat, I would continue to rebuild myself. I couldn’t tame the tides, but I could deepen my well.
I enrolled with the Hendricks Institute, diving into their two year intensive Leadership and Transformation coaching program. I had already spent years unraveling unconscious patterns, confronting the ways I had held myself back, learning how to navigate life from a place of presence rather than pressure and this took it all to a whole new level. It was uncomfortable. Growth usually is.
Then, just as I was finally opening the doors of Casa Alternavida, another storm erupted. This time, a deeply personal one. My mother was diagnosed with cancer.
CARING FOR MY MOTHER
The timing felt impossibly difficult. I had built something new, something needing a lot of attention, and yet, there was no question of what mattered most. I stepped into the role of caregiver, spending those final months with her as she moved through her own journey of transition.
There are moments in life that change you in ways you can’t fully articulate. This was one of them. Grief has a way of stripping away everything unimportant, leaving only what is real.
Being with my mother in those final months wasn’t just about supporting her - it was about presence, about learning to hold space for pain without trying to fix it, about witnessing the beauty that still exists even in the hardest moments It reinforced what I had been learning all along: healing is not just personal. It’s relational. It’s the way we show up for ourselves and for each other. Throughout this journey, I kept returning to nature as a guide. I thought about the trade winds—invisible, yet powerful, shaping climates and entire ecosystems.
Leadership, I realized, is much the same. The energy we bring - whether calm or chaotic, open or closed - has an impact beyond what we can see. Strong leaders don’t fight against challenges but use momentum to propel their team forward. They adjust their sails when conditions shift; they do not try to control the winds, they navigate them with wisdom and purpose.
COMING HOME
I see now that my journey wasn’t about leaving something behind. It was about coming home - to myself, to a deeper understanding of leadership, to the knowledge that healing is not about avoiding discomfort but about learning how to move through it with awareness.
Casa Alternavida is more than a retreat center. It is a place where leaders come for a wellness experience, and where they learn conscious communication tools while being in beautiful natural environments. It is a place where small shifts in mindset can create large waves of transformation.
I no longer measure success in projects completed or accolades received. I measure it in the ripple effect - of presence, of conscious leadership, of the way one person’s healing can quietly shape a culture, a team, a community.
That’s the journey I’m still on. And the invitation I extend - are you ready to step beyond what’s familiar, challenge your own assumptions and transform the way you lead?
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