About Me
My name is Jo. After over 10 years of gallivanting, I’ve found the adventure that makes my life right for me. Let me tell you about it…
Not interested in reading my story? No problem! Jump right into:
Otherwise, read on!
It all started one warm, summer night when I was up in my tower waiting for my prince… Haha, I’m just kidding. This ain’t no fairy tale. It’s real life. Well, it’s the story of my real life, with its highs, lows and mega learnings that have slapped me in the face along the way.
By sharing my tale, I hope it inspires you to break free from the confines that limit you and find the freedom to soar. For me, travel was where I was able to make that happen.
I’ve found that by noticing the expectations, norms and beliefs that kept me captive, I slowly became liberated to ditch the beaten path and discover my own way; a trail that made me feel freer and more alive than ever.
I want to help you discover the same feelings.
Getting lost along the way
Having been raised in a conventional Canadian context, I was given a clear idea of what my life path was supposed to look like. Go to college. Graduate. Get married. Buy a house. Have kids. Wait until retirement.
It’s not that I didn’t want any of those things, but maybe I didn’t want them in that order, or maybe I didn’t want any of it in the same way that it was supposed to look like.
I wanted the freedom to do it my way.
As I finished my studies, it became clear that I couldn’t just keep moving forward on this path that felt so wrong for me. I felt repressed, limited and unmotivated to take even one more step in this direction. I needed adventure, I needed unexpected detours and growth. I wanted to be surprised and captivated by each day.
I decided that after college I’d be leaving Ottawa. I didn’t know for how long and I was all over the map in terms of where I wanted to go. But what I did know, was that I needed the freedom to choose my own adventure, like those awesome adventure books that rocked my world as a kid.
I spent the next decade gallivanting the world. Although I love to travel, it’s not really what that time was about. I was searching for myself, for a place that felt right to me and people that lifted me up and helped me become this version of me that I knew I had inside.
After all those years of traveling, the most important adventure of my life started when I realized that peace, connection and love had to be found within my inner self, and not in some far off land.
In those years of living and traveling abroad, I realized how liberating and necessary it was for me to live my life on my own terms. But I had gotten one thing wrong.
I had thought that one day, I’d arrive to a city/job/relationship/”fill in the blank of whatever else I’d been waiting for” to find true happiness and everything would just feel right. Like once XYZ happened, I’d be happy and fulfilled.
It took me a long time to realize how misguided that idea was.
Everything would only ever feel right, once I felt right within myself.
Once I planted my feet in Madrid, Spain, in December of 2014, I started to realize that and a shift started taking place.
I started looking inwards for answers and love. I started to connect with my inner self, a being I hadn’t gotten to know very well after such a busy decade of travel.
My path started to detour into a new unexpected direction. I started meditating more regularly, yoga became something much more profound and I started to really question my day-to-day thoughts and choices.
With each step I took on this new path, I felt freer and freer.
I felt like a bird that was being taught to fly after having spent so many years in a cage.
All of a sudden, I had the power to be happy. It was in my hands, and it was up to me to be brave enough to take it. I was in control of my life in way I had never even thought possible.
I had been looking under every rock and over ever hill to find these answers that I suddenly started to uncover within myself. My eyes were being opened to the thoughts in my mind, the power of living in the present moment and my ability to change the world, by changing my perception of the world.
Consciousness and authenticity became the backbone of my new adventure. It was wilder and more daring than any of the travel tales I’d ever go one to live.
Exploring the depths of my thoughts, feelings, perceptions and beliefs helped me become more acquainted with my truth, or the me that lies at the base of who I am.
As I embarked on this new inner journey, I realized that it had the unexpected effect of helping me connect more authentically with those around me. As I was bringing a more honest version of myself to the table (that no longer NEEDED their love and support, but instead cherished and valued it) I felt freed from the shackles of their expectations.
Instead of making choices to please others or because this is how we usually do it, I started making choices that suited me, and my needs.
But just like all daring tales, the protagonist must eventually fight its dragon.
And my dragon came in the shape of a “5-month motorycle adventure” that forced me question the importance of community and connection in how personal growth.
Where COMMUNITY and personal growth collide
In 2019, my partner and I hit the road for a 5-month motorcycle trip. Although I’m not a biker gal, nor do I like trips that force me to move too often, I was excited about what I could learn on this trip.
Having spent the last 6 years, more settled than I had ever been, I was itching to shake things up. I was ready to pack my inner wellness tools with me and see the world from these holistic viewpoints. Staying present with the moment, accepting emotions and circumstances as they appeared, and using the challenges that I met with love, compassion and openness for growth and learning.
Although the trip was amazing, it ended up being an extremely challenging travel experience. I lost my way. Somewhere between Turkey and the Caspian Sea, a disconnect happened between my mind, body and soul and the beauty of what I was living.
I won’t go into more the details about the trip (you can read about it here), but it reminded me about how transformative travel can be. But, that just like anything that powerful, support is key. On that trip, support appeared through a fellow traveler and yogi I met in a guesthouse one day. After a deep and heart-felt chat, followed by a yoga session, I felt reconnected, to myself, to my truth and my purpose.
That trip reconfirmed something I had known for years…
Walking the path of growth, exploration and love happens best when deeply connected to others who stroll on a similar trail along side you.
I felt blessed to meet that yogi on my trip. But I can recall many moments of inner disorientation where I didn’t meet anyone like that, and so, I couldn’t rebalance myself in presence, in love or find my way back to a wise step forward.
To help build a wise and fun community around the exploration of mind, body and soul, I created You Choose the Way.
start the adventure
Professional Bio
Josée Perron (aka, Jo) is a mindfulness teacher, writer, yogi, event host and facilitator and nature addict with a keen eye for finding the beauty in life and opportunities for growth.
Having studied Business Administration, her professional path originally led her into various directions based on what jobs could be found in the countries she lived in. This gave her experience working in almost all areas of business, eventually ending up and loving the non-profit sector. When she moved to Spain, she had to re-shift her focus and luckily landed on her feet finding work she loved as a textbook editor. Four years later, it was finally time to take the leap she’d been dreaming of and she quit her job to start her own business.
In recent years, she’s become a certified yoga teacher, with a specialization in meditation and also a certified mindfulness teacher.
She started You Choose the Way in March 2018 as a means to connect with other gallivantors ready to venture down the wild route of self-discovery.
More about You Choose the Way
Our values
Everything we do centers around truth, curiosity, adventure, compassion and equality.
Our values are the guiding pillars of our business. We detour off the standard beaten business path, do walk towards conscious and compassion business structures and processes.
Our mission
Empowering those with a natural sense of adventure, You Choose the Way fosters transformative journeys through the exploration of mind, body, and soul. Our mission is rooted in the belief that enhancing ourselves leads to the creation of a better world.
We recognize that love, kindness, and awareness serve as powerful remedies against the harshness of the world. Cultivating these virtues is even more beautiful when done alongside fellow travelers on the path.
Join us in building a world where personal growth contributes to the collective well-being. Together, we navigate the transformative landscapes of our inner and outer worlds, fostering a community dedicated to positive change.
“Change can be hard. It requires no extra effort to settle for the same old thing. Auto-pilot keeps us locked into past patterns. But transforming your life? That requires courage, commitment, and effort. It’s tempting to stay camped in the zone of That’s-Just-How-It-Is. But to get to the really good stuff in life, you have to be willing to become an explorer and adventurer.”
John Mark Green
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