Hollywood Drugs to Costa Rica Love

“I did all the drugs every single weekend,” she said lounging in a sun skirt and tank top on a grey outdoor sofa in her open-air kitchen. 

She used to live in a California penthouse on the beach with a co-founder of Myspace. He was her boyfriend. Until he wasn’t. She found herself lost, gray, and weighing only 90 pounds.  

Emily was born in San Francisco and spent her 20’s in LA. She sold pharmaceuticals in Beverly Hills, did all the drugs, and thought she was invincible. She dated guys who were selling companies and getting rich. Then her world caved in when Myspace boy cheated on her. 

“I met an artist in San Francisco years earlier and for some reason I had the urge to go see him. He was a healer. When I walked in he said I looked terrible.” 

My friend Ilene and I were sitting in her open-air kitchen on the side of a mountain in Costa Rica. Her husband of five years was making a vegan salad. He had arm tattoos, a French accent, and no shoes.

Nobody wears shoes in Costa Rica. The wind was blowing perfectly. The sun danced in and out of the trees as they swayed in the breeze. There was a box of organic fruit in the kitchen loaded with bananas. My kind of people. Sans the vegan part.

“The healer told me I had to find my creativity again. I thought to myself I have never been a creative person.” She continued with her story…

Emily is now an author, women’s coach, surfer, mother of two, and retreat facilitator. She was radiantly pretty in an effortless way. She was glowing actually.  

Two nannies tended to her babies in an adjoining part of the house separated from the area we were in by a small pool. There was a third section behind with a king-size bed and massive glass doors. The entire complex was on the side of a jungle in Santa Teresa, Costa Rica. I couldn’t help thinking how perfectly amazing the place was.

“You ever heard about love?” I asked with a smile. Her book is called The Quest and she helps women believe in themselves and find love. I was positive her story was a doozy. Anyone who becomes a love coach usually went through hell to get there. Love is bananas.  

“You know, for me, I was a perfectionist. I did not know who I was. I was in and out of bad relationships, partying every weekend, and dying on the inside,” she looked back and forth between Ilene and me. 

Ilene had found her on the internet, reached out, and got us an interview. We like to interview odd people with odd stories. She seemed odd enough. We drove our blue rental car up a long dirt road into the jungle where we found her amazing house.  

Her surfer husband continued to build his perfect salad in the kitchen glancing over at us every once in a while. The French are bold people. I never saw him smile. Or laugh.

I learned that once Emily started to lean into creativity her entire life changed. She gave herself permission and started, for the first time, to not judge herself. She found writing, art, and surfing. It saved her life. 

While on vacation in Costa Rica years ago she ran into her now husband, the French guy. They surfed together one time then drove all over Costa Rica for two weeks falling in love. When he took her to the airport to fly home he said, “If you come back, we will make a baby.”

The French are bold. 

She came back and now they have two. 

“We did ayahuasca on our second date,” she said casually smiling at her French husband.

“Dear Lord, that’s intense,” I replied flashing back to the time I did ayahuasca in some hippie’s house in California and blasted into the universe for eight hours. Ayahuasca is one of the most profound psychedelics in the world. I danced with Jesus Christ, talked to an alien, played piano with my dad who died 20 years before. I also almost had a heart attack and thought I was a gorilla for a short period of time.

“He has done many ayahuasca ceremonies,” she said pointing to her French husband. 

“Really?” I replied shifting my gaze to him and his bohemian, MC Hammer pants. 

“Yes, I have some in the refrigerator. Want some?” He said motioning his head to the refrigerator without smiling. 

“No thanks…” I said trying to act cool but trembling inside. 

The French are bold. 

She told me he is a member of a group called The Red Path. These freaks do vision quests where they do peyote all night and then go into the jungle, alone, for four days. Then eight days the next year. Then 13 days the next year. The kicker is they do not eat food or drink liquid the entire time, have to sit under the same tree, and not move over three feet. 

“It is intense,” he said boldly chopping his lettuce. The man was making the most amazing salad of all time.

Fuck that, I thought. I couldn’t imagine starving to death with no water as ants and mosquitoes cover my body just before a jaguar ripped my face off. 

As we wrapped up our conversation I asked Emily what she tells the women she coaches. 

“They have to find their self-worth. I think this starts with giving yourself permission to be a beginner at things. To be creative and find your passions. I start by finding anything, even small, that is great about the person and we go from there.”

Agreed. Life is so much better if we give ourselves permission to try new things, create new art, and stumble until we can walk. Maybe if we do we will end up in love on the side of a mountain in the most amazing place in the world. 

Pura Vida!

Trey

More about Emily: https://www.emilypereira.com/