Vanessa Palomera shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Hi Vanessa, thank you for taking the time to reflect back on your journey with us. I think our readers are in for a real treat. There is so much we can all learn from each other and so thank you again for opening up with us. Let’s get into it: Have any recent moments made you laugh or feel proud?
My daughters often make me laugh and feel proud to be their mom. Just yesterday, my 5 year old played some piano notes she learned from watching my husband play, in just 5 minutes. The pride she showed after learning the notes, as my 2 year old cheered her on, brought me so much joy.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m a mental health therapist and owner of a group practice in Grapevine, Texas. What sets us apart is that we offer neuroscience-based therapies that work to shift things at the root level and help people heal from mental health challenges such as anxiety and trauma. We also love working with neurodivergent women and parents, supporting them through education about neurodivergence, accommodations, and how to be neurodiversity-affirming.
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
I was a curious, intuitive little girl who felt everything deeply: other people’s emotions, the unspoken tension in a room, the pain behind someone’s smile. I was the helper before I had the words for it. The one who could see someone’s heart even when they couldn’t. I moved through life with big feelings, a wild imagination, and a quiet but fierce sense that I was meant to make a difference.
I was free before the world taught me to shrink, mask, and perfect. I was highly sensitive, but also bold in my own way. I spoke my truth (with sass and directness), danced like no one was watching, and looked at people like they mattered, because I could feel that they did.
What fear has held you back the most in your life?
The fear of being rejected and alone has held me back more than anything else in my life.
It’s shaped how I’ve shown up in relationships, in my work, and even in how I saw myself for years.
As a kid, I learned early on that love could be conditional. That being “too much” or “too sensitive” might push people away. That if I wanted to stay connected, I had to be helpful, be good, be what others needed. Not necessarily who I was.
And while that survival strategy kept me safe, it slowly chipped away at my sense of self.
This fear of rejection made me quiet my truth, overgive, and second-guess myself constantly. I tolerated friendships and relationships that drained me. I silenced parts of myself that felt “too different.” I stayed small even when something inside me wanted to break free and take up space.
Even as a therapist, I had to learn how to do that for myself. To show up as the real me: Latina, neurodivergent, intuitive, imperfect, and worthy of love exactly as I am.
Healing this fear hasn’t been about convincing myself I’ll never be rejected. It’s been about creating a relationship with myself that feels so rooted and compassionate, I no longer abandon myself in the process of trying to belong.
Because the truth is, I belong.
And that’s the work I do now. With myself. With my clients. With every sensitive, self-sacrificing woman who’s ready to stop proving and start coming home to her own enoughness.
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. Is the public version of you the real you?
Authenticity is very important to me. I’ve been criticized at times for being too forthcoming as a therapist, but I’m of the belief that personal experience, shared with intention and boundaries, can be a powerful tool for connection and healing.
The public version of me is the real me. It’s not all of me, of course. Some parts are sacred, private, and just for me or my inner circle. But the version you see online—the one who talks about neurodivergence, trauma, identity, motherhood, and healing—that’s not a curated persona. That’s me, telling the truth in service of connection and empowerment.
I’ve spent too many years masking or contorting myself to fit in. Now, I get to choose differently. I don’t show up as “the expert on a pedestal.” I show up as a human being. A therapist who’s done (and continues to do) the work. A mom who messes up and repairs. A woman who’s unlearning perfectionism and learning to rest in her enoughness.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. What will you regret not doing?
I think about this often, especially as a mom, a therapist, and a woman who used to believe that rest had to be earned.
I know I would regret not taking the vacation. Not stepping away from the hustle to feel the sun on my skin, to laugh with my girls without checking emails, to be in my life instead of managing it.
I’d regret not going to therapy; real therapy that digs deep, not just coping skills and worksheets. The kind that helped me finally see that I was never broken, just surviving. Therapy gave me back pieces of myself I didn’t even realize I had lost.
And honestly? I’d regret not taking time for me. Not the “self-care” that gets marketed to us in pretty packages, but real time. Quiet time. Time to rest, to dream, to say “no” without guilt, to exist without producing or proving. Time to just be.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.butterfly-counseling.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/butterfly.counseling
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@serenebutterflycounseling
Image Credits
Caroline Veronez, Prescilla Du Preez
