Welcome to The Returning Project

I keep almost remembering her. The woman I was before I was told who to be.

Maybe you know what I mean. Somewhere between the roles and the responsibilities, between being someone's wife or mother or daughter or employee, between saying yes when you meant no and shrinking to keep the peace, you forgot her too.

This is what The Returning Project is about. Not becoming someone new. Returning to someone you already are.

How It Started

A few years ago, I walked the Camino de Santiago, a 500-mile pilgrimage across northern Spain. I trained for months in New Orleans, which is three feet below sea level and completely flat. I had no idea what I was getting into.

On my second day, I got lost in the mountains. The fog was so thick I couldn't see ten feet in front of me. I was terrified. I thought I had failed before I even started.

Then a stranger appeared out of the mist, pointed me back toward the path, and disappeared. I kept walking. And somewhere in those mountains, I realized something: I wasn't lost in fog. I was standing in clouds. I was already exactly where I needed to be. I just couldn't see it yet.

That's what returning feels like. You're not lost. You're just in the clouds. And the path is still beneath your feet.

What This Is

The Returning Project is a book, a community, and a framework for women navigating life's biggest transitions. Divorce. Empty nest. Career change. Loss. Retirement. The end of caregiving. The moment you look in the mirror and ask: Who am I now?

I spent twenty years teaching organizations how to survive disasters. Crisis management. Business continuity. Resilience. Then I realized: women need the same thing. Not a pep talk. Not toxic positivity. A structured path from breakdown to rebuilding.

So I built one. Five stages: Awakening, Threshold, Restoration, Emergence, and Flourishing. Not linear. Not a checklist. A spiral you move through again and again, each time deeper, each time closer to yourself.

What This Isn't

I'm not a guru. I don't have answers. I have questions.

There are no teachers here. Only women walking together, sharing the space, figuring it out as we go. You are not broken. You do not need to be fixed. You already have everything you need. You just forgot.

An Invitation

If you're reading this and something is stirring, that's the beginning. That stirring has a name: Awakening.

You don't have to know where you're going. The path doesn't require a map. The journey began the moment you decided to look.

You are exactly where you need to be.

You are returning to yourself.

And there's room on the path if you want to walk with us.

Returning together,

Bonnie