“You know yourself best. So listen to your own intuition and your gut, and do the inner work to really know what it is that you value, that genuinely brings you joy, that genuinely lights you up, and just take that courageous step and follow it. Choose progress before certainty. Choose taking that courageous step before feeling like you’re ready, because at times you’re not going to feel ready, and sometimes you just have to do it. There’s no way of failing if you’re willing to try.”
Take Aligned Action Before You’re Ready
Most people wait to feel ready before they change their life. Certified high-performance coach and energy healer Gloria Lorelai Lee built her entire career on doing the opposite: taking aligned action before you’re ready, not after.
Gloria’s path wasn’t linear. She grew up around anxiety and depression within her family, later left a stable hospitality career to work abroad in Australia, and eventually moved to Africa to volunteer — long before she had a clear plan for what came next.
Healing Doesn’t Mean Getting Stuck in the Past
During the pandemic, Gloria went deep into personal development and healing work. But she found herself trapped there — reliving old trauma instead of moving through it. Her breakthrough came from learning to balance reflection with forward motion, rather than treating healing as an endless excavation project.
Why Recognizing the Problem Comes First
A recurring theme in the conversation is that awareness is the real starting point. Mental health struggles, whether anxiety, depression, or loneliness, often go unaddressed simply because no one names them. Gloria’s advice: once you see the problem clearly, the next step is small, actionable, and doesn’t require perfect readiness.
Redefining Success on Your Own Terms
Gloria pushes back on conventional definitions of success, encouraging listeners to build a life aligned with personal truth rather than external validation. That might mean writing a book, hosting wellness retreats, or — in her case — eventually launching a personal development festival in Africa.
The through-line is simple: take aligned action before you’re ready, treat every step as feedback, and trust that clarity comes from moving, not waiting.
To hear Gloria’s full story — including how anxiety and addiction patterns shaped her early adulthood, and her long-term vision for community-driven healing — listen to the full episode: https://tinyurl.com/Progress-and-Purpose-Podcast
Episode Highlights:
01:53 Meet Gloria Lorelai Lee: A High-Performance Coach’s Origin Story
05:47 Facing Anxiety, Depression, and the Search for Meaning
08:12 Why Recognizing the Problem Is the First Step to Healing
09:06 Redefining Success: Living an Authentic, Aligned Life
13:49 Future Vision: Books, Retreats, and a Purpose Festival in Africa
18:27 Take Aligned Action Before You’re Ready: Gloria’s Core Advice
20:41 Where to Find Gloria Lorelai Lee Online
Resources:
📖 The Adventures of Harold from the Hood Book Series:
🚙A Trip to the Park: https://bit.ly/40Lvv6h
🤝🏽Friends Like Different Things: https://bit.ly/4ocAQxq
🍟 Fun Time Lunch Time: https://bit.ly/4odUCJ1
😤 When I Feel So Annoyed: https://bit.ly/4l6WSPt
Meet Gloria Lorelai:
Gloria Lorelai Lee is a certified high-performance coach and energy healer who helps purpose-driven individuals create clarity, courage, and resilience so they can take aligned action—even before they feel fully ready. Drawing from her lived experience with mental health challenges, anxiety, depression, and poverty, as well as her international work in Australia and South Africa, Gloria brings a grounded, compassionate approach to personal development, mindset, and spiritual growth.
Through her coaching, upcoming books, and global wellness retreats, she empowers clients to transform adversity into a meaningful life of service, authenticity, and impact. Gloria’s long-term vision includes hosting a global personal development festival in Africa, uniting seekers, leaders, and change-makers committed to healing and growth.
Quotes:
05:51 “Every day is a brand new day to learn things, to be better, to improve yourself. We all make mistakes. That’s what life is about. You hopefully learn from those mistakes, and you use those mistakes to grow and nurture your own personal growth.” —Dr. Jim Price
08:26 “It’s important to have a balance of doing the work and introspecting, then also moving through it so that you’re learning through it, and then you’re continuing with life.” —Gloria Lorelai Lee
09:27 “The first step is always the most important step: realizing that there’s a problem.” —Dr. Jim Price
11:38 “You can have so many different people’s opinions and guidance, but at the end of the day, you know yourself best. It’s really tuning inward and doing the inner work.” —Gloria Lorelai Lee
15:00 “A lot of that true happiness comes from within yourself, not from external sources.” —Dr. Jim Price
17:36 “When you treat others with respect and dignity and have a genuine heart about helping other people, that’s when good things come back to you. And vice versa. If you’re treating people rudely, you’re probably gonna come full circle and have all that bad treatment come back to you.” —Dr. Jim Price
19:04 “You know yourself best. So listen to your own intuition and your gut, and do the inner work to really know what it is that you value, that genuinely brings you joy, that genuinely lights you up, and just take that courageous step and follow it. Choose progress before certainty. Choose taking that courageous step before feeling like you’re ready, because at times you’re not going to feel ready, and sometimes you just have to do it. There’s no way of failing if you’re willing to try.” —Gloria Lorelai Lee
transcript:
Gloria Lorelai Lee: Living a life that’s true to me, that feels really authentic to me, that feels aligned with my own personal truths and values, and having the courage to not follow the conventional path what society or family has conditioned us to believe, what success may look like, you got to define that on your own terms. It’s going to look very differently to everybody. I think essentially, we all have our own shared humanity where we have the same, similar journeys and similar emotions, wants, desires at the end of the day, but we all have different ways of going about it. But I think just continuing to follow your heart, following your gut and intuition, and discerning what’s your own truth versus all the outside noise, you can have so many different people’s opinions and guidance. But at the end of the day, you know yourself best.
Dr. Jim Price: Hello, I’m Dr. Jim Price, and welcome to The Purpose and Progress Podcast. This is the place where we explore how purpose can guide our actions, and how growth can become a part of our everyday lives. On the show, I talk with amazing guests, from educators and creators to everyday people with extraordinary stories about the challenges they face, the lessons they’ve learned, and how to keep moving forward. My goal is to share conversations that inspire you to live intentionally, embrace growth, and take meaningful steps to your own purpose. Let’s get started.
Hello, everyone. Welcome again. This is The Purpose and Progress Podcast Show. I’m your host, Dr. Jim Price. We are here to share inspirational stories about inspirational folks doing amazing things to help others, inspire others to be better versions of themselves, and to be reaching for, and motivated toward, and growing, and nurturing their own selves, and their own personal lives. And today is no different. We have a wonderful guest. She is a certified high-performance coach and energy healer who helps people develop clarity through courage, resilience, and purpose. Her journey has been shaped by adversity, uncertainty, and unconventional choices. Including growing up amid mental health challenges, poverty, and loneliness. Leaving a stable hospitality career to work in Australia, and later moving to Africa to serve with a volunteer organization. These experiences led her to build a purpose-driven coaching business focused on helping people take aligned action before they feel fully ready. She brings an honest perspective on resilience, personal growth, purpose, and the mind self shifts that can transform adversity into a meaningful life of service. Today, we have Gloria Lee. Gloria Lee, how are you doing today?
Gloria Lorelai Lee: I’m doing really well. How about you? Thanks for having me.
Dr. Jim Price: I’m just blessed. We talk about the differences, you’re in Canada, and I’m in Massachusetts, and with NBA Basketball Hall of Fame induction ceremonies happening and stuff. I’m familiar with a lot of the stuff that we have. I keep up with a lot. I have connections, and a lot of the people in Canada too, so I definitely love that. I’m so definitely blessed to have you on the show to share your story, your motivational story in terms of things. I would say, we talk a little bit, people see the finished product, they see the finish line, but they don’t see when things started. They don’t see the starting line. They only see the finish line, success and things like that. And sometimes, that gets lost and shuffled. So this is what the show is about, to share those aspects of the wonderful guests that we have with the audience so they can connect better to knowing the person more outside the success. So this is what it’s about. So if you were to start to share, what do you feel when you started your journey? What influenced you to start on your journey to success and stuff like that?
Gloria Lorelai Lee: Yeah. It’s been a long journey. There’ve been so many chapters, so many seasons in my life that I’ve gone through over the years, over the decades. I’ve always been someone that’s always been very curious about the meaning of life. I’ve always been into personal growth and development, and just in continuous improvement, right? But in the early stages of my life, I did grow up around, in my upbringing, a lot of mental health challenges with anxiety and depression within my family. And through that upbringing, there were a lot of different things that I was going through. And all the way up into my youth and in my 20s, I was doing a lot of traveling in search of something outside of myself, something bigger, like the meaning behind all of it. And to kind of sum things up, I would say around the pandemic years when the world was in lockdown, those were like the prime years where I really got to do a deep dive into personal development, my healing journey, and really go deep into what experience have I encountered, what adversities, what experiences have shaped me into who I am today, and who it’s made me become. And now I’m here, and I’m still at it. We’re still on this human journey, and it’s never ending. It’s always a continuous process and a journey. But yeah, thanks for having me once again.
Dr. Jim Price: That’s what I always say to my students. I do the counselor with the kids and stuff too, and I’m always saying, hey, every day is a brand new day to learn things, to be better, to improve yourself. We all make mistakes. That’s what life is about. You make mistakes. You hopefully learn from those mistakes, and you use those mistakes to grow and nurture your own personal growth. And I think that’s a lot of what you’re been doing. Using whatever obstacles and challenges to actually grow and nurture yourself, and make progress in terms of where you want to go, and what you want to do. And of course, having your story helps others to be able to overcome their challenges and stuff. Because sometimes, I always say, you never know who’s watching, never know who you’re influencing through your story of enduring challenges and overcoming obstacles in life. That’s so wonderful. Of course, it’s always wonderful to have people sharing their stories like that. I know we talk about obstacles a little bit and things like that. What do you feel were some of the obstacles that were maybe challenges or challenges that you face upon your journey to success in that way?
Gloria Lorelai Lee: I think through most of my life, it was dealing with anxiety, dealing with depression, dealing with loneliness. Feeling like the people, I had a lot of friends growing up in school, all of that, but I still felt kind of lonely. Like no one else was going through what I was going through, and I was in search of something deeper and more meaningful at the same time and all of those things. And of course, with all the things that I grew up with in childhood, I think later when I grew up, I kind of dealt with addiction patterns. I went through existential crises. I’ve had spiritual awakenings and out of body experiences where I’ve had chapters. I’ve awakened to the fact that, oh, we’re energy beings. We’re souls having infinite lifetimes. All of these things, and that was a huge, huge journey I went through. But there were a lot of different things throughout.
But I think during the pandemic years, even though I was doing all of the work, the inner work, the personal development work, some of the things that I was struggling with was because I was doing all this work. There was so much energy and focus on the past and what has happened to me, and the stories that I was constantly putting so much energy into, that that was my life. I wasn’t able to enjoy my life anymore or the simplicity of the day to day life. The focus was that I was in a way reliving some of it. I think it’s important to have that balance of really doing the work, and introspecting, and reflecting. But then also moving through it so that you’re learning through it, and then you’re continuing on with life. But I think the struggle I had was I didn’t know where the balance was. I either went deep into personal development and then into the healing journey where I got so focused on all the traumas and the drama that came with that. I was stuck there, and I was almost drowning in my emotions, and knew how to get out of it. And especially when you go through seasons of anxiety and depression, it’s really hard to move out of it. When you’re in the middle of it, it just feels like you’re barely surviving. If you are surviving, it’s minute to minute, day to day, week to week. And it really does take a lot. There’s a lot behind the scenes when people are going through life and doing the inner work that you don’t see.
Dr. Jim Price: So true. As I always say, the first step is always the most important step, realizing that there’s a problem. And mental health is just such a major thing today. There’s so much around that. But then there’s such a lack of resources to address a lot of that and stuff like that. When you see mental health, even in school settings and stuff like that, how mental health has been a major challenge for students, college students, adults living their adult lives, and trying to work through traumas and stuff like that that they may have not have worked through. Whether childhood trauma or just stress, anxiety. A lot of those are challenges that can definitely impact people’s lives and stuff like that. And to be able to recognize and be like, okay, there’s a problem here. That’s the first step. And then doing those actionable steps toward trying to address a lot of those things is so important. I like that you pointed that out in terms of the journey and the spiritual aspects of it, stuff like that. I totally incorporate prayer in everything I do, so I definitely resonate with the spiritual aspects of it. And the science of synchronicity, all the stuff that goes with it and stuff like that too, so thank you. That was so great right there. If you were to say, as far as achievements, various things like that, what would you say that you hold dear to you in terms of maybe achievements and stuff like that that you feel that you hold dear?
Gloria Lorelai Lee: Yeah. I would say, just living a life that’s true to me, that feels really authentic to me, that feels aligned with my own personal truths and values. And having the courage to not follow the conventional path, what society or family has conditioned us to believe, what success may look like, you got to define that on your own terms. It’s going to look very differently to everybody. I think essentially, we all have our own shared humanity where we have the same similar journeys, and similar emotions, wants, desires at the end of the day. But we all have different ways of going about it. But I think just continuing to follow your heart, following your gut and intuition, and discerning what’s your own truth versus all the outside noise. You can have so many different people’s opinions and guidance. But at the end of the day, you know yourself best. And so it’s really tuning inward, and doing the inner work. I would say those are the things. And by following my passions, being of service where I can, even the little things and the little interactions in the day to day with the people that’s within your circle and in your interactions, I would say that, but ultimately, just living a life that’s true to you, and also being resourceful. I didn’t grow up with quite a lot. But I was resourceful in a sense that, luckily, I am grateful that I grew up in an age where you do have access to a lot of information online.
So as you said, even though sometimes the school system might be a little bit outdated, or it feels like it’s lacking in resources when it comes to the mental health side of things, there’s a lot of resources that are shared online with a lot of people sharing valuable insights and wisdom, and that’s how I kind of found my way through things, and got the the resources and the help that I need to just tuning into what I had access to, which was books, podcasts, all of the things to get me to hear different schools of thought and perspectives, open my mind up to the world and all of that, so there is that as well. And I know that I did in my personal journey, I went down a rabbit hole of all of that information discerning, okay, well, after all of this information out there shared out in the world by so many different people, what is my own truth? And coming back home to that. But yeah, I would say just being resourceful as well, and just keeping an open mind, staying growth minded and open minded, acknowledging the complexities of life and other spectrum to things, and how ultimately everything is subjective. And essentially at the end of the day, there’s no right or wrong, black or white. Everything is very subjective, right? It really depends from your own lens through your own experiences that shape how you see the world. But just keeping an open mind on that as well.
***Looking for books that spark imagination, and teach valuable lessons? The Adventures of Harold From The Hood has four wonderful titles: A Trip to the Park, Friends Like Different Things, Fun Time Lunch Time, and When I Feel So Annoyed. Kids can enjoy animated videos, fun coloring pages, and interactive activity books that make learning about empathy, friendship, and social skills exciting. All books are available on every platform. Dive in today at jimpricebooks.education. jimpricebooks.education. Stay blessed.
Dr. Jim Price: Yeah, a lot of it is like that. You think about personal growth and doing the work to actually challenge yourself to heal internal, maybe unhealed wounds and stuff that have never been addressed before, you know what I mean? And I think a lot of times, that’s just a big step within itself. And at the same time, there’s a lot of people who have the idea of external validity and stuff like that where it’s like, oh, you got to learn to love your inner self first. True happiness comes from within yourself, not from external sources and stuff. But not to say that you can’t have your ego stroked by external forces and stuff like that. But in the bigger picture when you think about really healing and doing the inner work, we’re talking about learning to really love yourself, and understanding that external validation is not always gonna get it if you’re really truly on that path of doing the work. So thank you for sharing those. Those are very good tips for our audience and everything like that. I appreciate that. But if you were to say as far as maybe any future projects or anything like that, is there anything that you were thinking of getting into that you could share with the audience?
Gloria Lorelai Lee: Yeah. I am currently a certified high performance coach, and was trained through the High Performance Institute in the States. And I do have this framework where I walk my clients through, where I help them through greater levels of clarity and energy, and courage, purpose, productivity, psychology, mindset, all of those things. But I’m also in the process of writing, writing books, and then hosting retreats in different parts of the world that focus on wellness, on healing, movement, all of these things. And then my ultimate vision I have is to host this global personal development festival in Africa. I used to live and work in South Africa pre-pandemic years for a volunteer organization at the time, and Africa has been something that I’ve been drawn to since I was very very young. I would say around 8 years old or so. It was just something that was very intuitive and natural for me where I just had the vision as a kid to just be there and focus more on humanitarian efforts, and just the global issues that we’re facing in communities with youth, and wildlife extinction, and conservation, all of those things. But my focus is to continue to travel and help communities along the way. To return to Africa and to build an event that draws people around the world where they can continue to focus on personal growth and development while networking and connecting with other people in community.
Dr. Jim Price: Wow! And I totally support every bit of that. I think that’s wonderful because I always say when you’re in the spirit of helping others, that’s where you get good karma and stuff in return. When you treat others with respect and dignity, and you actually have a genuine heart about helping other people, that’s when good things come back to you. Vice versa. If you’re treating people unruly and maybe not the best, you’re probably going to come full circle and have all the bad treatment come back to you. You want to put out energy, positive energy that is able to be circumvented to be positive influences on people and stuff like that, so I totally support that whole message that you give. And resonate with me heavily. I definitely am thankful that you do the work that you do in terms of trying to help others, help families, help kids, help adults. Everybody needs help, and you’re in that position where you’re able to do those things, and you’re open about it. You have a genuine heart about what you’re trying to do. So all those aspirations, I know when the book comes out, I’ll be the first one, pre-order. Please be in touch and let me know. I’ll definitely support that. We’ll have you back on and let you promote that as well when you get through that. But if you were to say, as far as advice for the audience that’s watching, what advice would you share in terms of those who wanted to meet their aspiration, meet their goals, maybe change their lives, make that first step, take that first step.
Gloria Lorelai Lee: Yeah. Well, there’s so many things, but I think ultimately you just have to find your own way. There’s no one size fits all. And ultimately, you know yourself best. So listen to your own intuition and your gut, and to do the inner work to really know what it is that that you value that genuinely brings you joy, that genuinely lights you up, and really just take that courageous step and follow it. And to choose progress before certainty. And to choose to take that courageous step before feeling like you’re ready. Because at times, you’re not going to feel ready. And sometimes, you just got to do it. Just don’t overthink it. Just take action, and everything stacks and compounds from there when you take those micro actions and those micro steps, and just see life as more like an exploration or tiny experiment. And really, ultimately, there’s no way of really failing if you’re willing to try and you’re willing to go. Because no matter what you do, if you’re just giving everything a shot of all you have, you’re always going to, everything that you receive or experience is going to be feedback. It’s going to be data. And it’s just a matter of having that awareness, and looking at life in the bigger picture. And really refining what worked, what didn’t work for you, and just refining as you go. But ultimately, just really stay in tune with what resonates with you. And whatever resonates, that’s your personal truth. And listen to that. Listen to that spark, or that aha, or that nudge. That’s pretty much your soul’s way of saying, hey, this is in resonance. This is the path I’m meant to be on. So just really staying in tune with that, and really just testing and seeing what works for you. And yeah, you’ll figure it out, and you’ll find your own way. And you’re a lot stronger than you think.
Dr. Jim Price: Absolutely. I think people don’t always realize and recognize they do have inner strength. Some people say this is buried, and they haven’t had a chance to bring it out of themselves in that way. But people have it in them. The ability to change is there. It’s just about taking that first step, like you said. And persevering and making the things happen that you need to make happen to succeed. And sometimes, that might mean separating yourself from people and family members, or friends, or whatever you might have to do to kind of put yourself in a place where you can focus on those things, those aspects of yourself that you want to improve, and you’re trying to improve. Sometimes, the environment can cause a lot of that too. So all those are great nuggets of wisdom, and that you just shared right there. Great nuggets of wisdom and understanding right there. I appreciate that. If the audience would want to reach out and get a hold and connect with you, how could our audience be able to connect with you?
Gloria Lorelai Lee: Yes. You can find more about me and what it is I do in my journey @glorialorelai.com. Lorelei spelled L-O-R-E-L-A-I. And then all my social handles, be it in LinkedIn or Instagram, you can just find me at Gloria Lorelai Lee.
Dr. Jim Price: Could you just say one more time for the audience, the connection that you said. You spelled it out, but I wanted to make sure that the audience knows.
Gloria Lorelai Lee: Yes. It’s Gloria Lorelai. And then Lorelai is spelled,
Dr. Jim Price: Thank you so much. I appreciate you, Gloria, so much for sharing all these nuggets of wisdom. And with our audience today, I’m sure the audience is going to definitely be able to put a lot of these parts that we talked about into action for themselves, and for their own personal lives, and things like that. So thank you. It’s been a pleasure having you today. And I always like to say, we are always trying to motivate others to be the best versions of themselves, grow, nurture through self-love, understanding self-worth, recognizing that they do have the inner power and inner progression to be able to succeed if you just take that first step. You just need to take that first step. So once again, this is The Purpose and Progress podcast show. And once again, I’m your host, Dr. Jim Price. I always like to close out by saying, stay prayed up, and stay blessed. We’ll see you next time. Thank you. Have a good day.
Thank you for joining me on this episode of The Purpose in Progress Podcast. I hope today’s conversation gave you insight, inspiration, or a fresh perspective to help you move forward with purpose. If you enjoyed the episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who could use a little encouragement. You can also support the podcast through the donation link in the show notes. Every contribution helps us keep sharing stories that uplift and inspire. Remember, your purpose is waiting, and progress never stops. I’ll see you next time.