Our Origin Story: Finding the Pause Button

The "Normal" That Wasn't Working

Butterflies and Rainbows was founded on a simple realization: sometimes, "trying harder" isn't the answer.

Our founder was living a life that looked successful on paper but felt like it was unraveling behind the scenes. Like so many parents, she was juggling a full-time career and full-time responsibilities, but the load was becoming impossible to carry. She felt like life was passing her by in a blur of "time blindness" and exhaustion.

Her body began to keep the score. She faced unexplained physical signals—brain fog, severe fatigue, and stress reactions that doctors couldn't pinpoint. She wasn't just tired; she was depleted. She found herself "checking out" through social media just to numb the overwhelm, losing the motivation to connect with the world outside.

The Ripple Effect
Children act as mirrors for their environment, and the stress was reflecting back.

• The Youngest began struggling to find her footing—facing friction with friends and "big emotions" at school that looked like acting out, but felt like a cry for help.

• The Oldest went the other way—retreating into screens and relationships to escape the anxiety, leading to a cycle of worry and withdrawal.

The Turning Point
The standard advice offered was more of the same: more labels, more medications, and "quick fixes" to manage the symptoms. But our founder knew that a label wouldn't fix the loneliness, and a pill wouldn't fix the chaos. She realized that her family didn't need to be "medicated"—they needed to be regulated.

A personal message from our President/Founder

"The Journey Back to "Me"

The Breaking Point
Two years ago, if I had tried to write this "About Me," it would have been a blank page.
I was living in a state of Skill Regression—a clinical term for when your brain is so overloaded with survival stress that it forgets how to do the basics.

I had forgotten how to cook "from the heart," a skill I learned from my grandparents.

I couldn't finish a single page of a book.

I couldn't build simple furniture or follow instructions.

I believed I had "Early Onset Dementia." I didn't. I had Survival Overload.

The Diagnosis: It Wasn't a Deficit, It Was a Design
The turning point came when I stopped trying to force my brain to be "normal" and started learning how it actually worked. I learned that my "anxiety" was actually a high-alert system protecting me. I learned that my brain (Neurodivergent and brilliant) wasn't broken; it was just exhausted from masking.

The Unlocking (2024-2026)
I made the choice to uproot the patterns that were erasing me.

I returned to my roots: I went back to the island I grew up on to find the child I used to be.

I released the weight: As I let go of the "high-conflict" environment, my body let go of the physical armor it had been carrying—70 pounds of inflammation and stress, gone without a diet.

I found the quiet: Through somatic work (releasing trauma from the body), I found a quiet mind that no medication had ever been able to give me.

I Am Living Proof That Neural Pathways Can Be Rewired.
Today, the woman who couldn't read a page applied to speak at TEDx.
The woman who flinched at a hug now thrives on connection.
The woman who couldn't cook now feeds her family with joy.

I am not here because I am "fixed." I am here because I am awake.
I founded Butterflies and Rainbows to tell you one thing:

The shame of your past does not define you.
You can rewire. You can return. You can wake up.

Welcome to Butterflies and Rainbows - You are safe here.
With Love and Kindness Always,

Jacquie