I worked professionally for more than two decades as a translator, a cognitively demanding role that required sustained focus, precision, and constant mental output. The work suited my strengths, and I took pride in performing at a high level, both in corporate and freelance positions. Over time, however, the pace and pressure accumulated.
Working remotely intensified this. Long hours of deep concentration left little energy for recovery, connection, or the creative pursuits that helped me stay grounded — including making music.
Like many high-performing professionals, I learned to push through fatigue and override my body’s signals. It worked for a while, until it didn’t. My energy levels became unreliable. Concentration was harder to sustain. Stimulation, noise, and competing priorities felt more taxing, and rest no longer restored me in the way I expected.
Persistent burnouts, along with personal challenges, eventually left me unable to work for several months, culminating in a diagnosis of CFS/ME. When I eventually crashed, I had to reshape how I related to work, rest, and everyday demands.
What followed was a gradual and intentional process. I explored a range of therapeutic, embodied, and nervous-system-informed approaches, and developed a different way of listening to myself — one rooted in safety, attunement, and respect for limits, rather than constant optimisation.
Throughout this period, I journalled extensively. Over time, this reflective practice helped me shape an approach to restoring energy. I trained in a variety of modalities, including mindfulness, counselling, and coaching, and began to see how my own experience could be used to support others navigating similar patterns of burnout and depletion — or, ideally, to help prevent them from reaching that point.
Alongside this work, I also learned to prioritise my creativity. I found ways to process my experience, restore meaning, and stay connected to myself through creative writing and song. You can listen to my music here
Living with ME/CFS can make life feel much smaller.
My hope isn’t to convince you that everything can be magically fixed.
It’s to help you discover that even within the reality of this illness, life can become steadier, richer and more meaningful.
If that feels like the kind of support you’ve been looking for, I’d love to work with you.
“My sessions with Steve have been quietly powerful. His natural presence immediately puts me at ease, creating a calm and grounded space where I feel completely safe to open up. We’ve worked through my challenges in a gentle, steady way, and his intuitive guidance has brought real clarity to things I had been struggling with for a long time. I leave sessions feeling lighter, clearer, and genuinely confident about moving forward. Thank you, Steve!”
“Steve coaches with compassion and understanding. His openness and extent to which he listens provides such safety to explore all topics. He shares from a space of honesty paired with gentleness which has allowed me to consider things anew and observe the full scope of the matter. I appreciate Steve's insights which have been both reassuring and affirming.”
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