I was on long term contract for a Disney+ TV show. Enduring over 12-hour days, sometimes 6/7 days a week, confined to a job with zero creative freedom, I kept reminding my younger-self, the one who left everything behind to pursue a career abroad in Film & TV: “You're so lucky to even be here. Keep pushing, this will get you where you want to be”.
I was right, though not in the way I expected.
My name is Micaela Castanheira. I’m an award-winning filmmaker, writer, musician and an ICF internationally accredited Purpose Coach.
A daydreamer since I’ve known myself, I found my passion for writing and music at quite a young age. I learnt to play the piano, the violin and sang all over my country and abroad. As a teen, I felt my first calling after watching The Black Swan (2010): “This is it. This is what I want to do”. But pursuing a career in Film felt insurmountable at the time, so I graduated in Arts and Humanities instead, exploring literature, acting and dance. Yet, despite the love I felt whilst performing on stage, the allure of filmmaking persisted.
MY STORY
So I left Portugal, heading to the UK with big dreams. Pursuing a second BA in Film, I aimed to climb the industry ladder. I found a deep love in filmmaking, a sense of fulfilment like no other when working with actors and crews, bringing the visions of my imagination to life on screen. Receiving recognition with over 40 awards and nominations strengthened my belief that I was finally doing what I was truly born to do.
But that girl who’d spent 7 years in university had now to enter the “real world”, and her own indie projects had to be sustained by work that paid the bills. The big machine that is TV then took her youth and energy, slowly pulling her further away from her sensitivity and dreams of meaningful artistic work.
I entered a phase where getting out of bed became a monumental challenge. If I let myself scroll on my phone, I’d lose up to 4 hours. The sense of emptiness inside of me was so big that I had nothing else to fill it with other than overthinking, worries and mind-numbing consumerism. The projects I wanted to achieve, the creativity that fuelled me? I couldn’t remember them, no matter how hard I tried. I felt isolated most of the time, hardly seeing anyone I cared about due to an absolutely insane work-life balance. I struggled to communicate with my friends and family, fearing I'd worry them. My feelings of homesickness increased. In breaks between TV projects, I wasn’t able to create a single piece of writing, film or music, even though I technically had all the time to. I considered asking my GP for anti-depressants, for anything that made me feel like myself again. Every morning I’d wake with crippling anxiety and every night I’d battle insomnia: I was a shell of myself. Desperate… lost. Fooled really, I believed this was just a phase to separate those who were resilient from those who gave up on their dreams. So, I just kept going.
Until this one day, late 2023. While at work, I ended up in the A&E due to severe chest pain. It turned out I was having a 48-hour long panic attack, lasting a week after that to fully subside. I was so out of touch with myself that not even therapy helped me reconnect with my inner purpose. Something had to change, but I didn’t know what, or how. Until coaching entered my life.
I decided to try something completely new. What did I have to lose?
I enrolled on a coaching course and unexpectedly saw my life take the quickest turn ever. I realised that I chose to be a storyteller to make a change: to provoke emotion, connect with people and help them rediscover the world. My passion for filmmaking was not my purpose, but rather how I brought my purpose to life. Coaching empowered me with this deeper truth and allowed me to see beyond my career obsession, which wasn't aligned with my values. I hadn’t failed, I was just about to find out a new way of doing things.
Within a few days I stopped waking up with anxiety. All my toxic thoughts calmed down. I regained energy, became surprisingly productive on a daily basis and felt a surge of creative energy ignite again. Through coaching, I started fulfilling my potential: I learnt how to prioritise what was important to me; how to take small but consistent steps towards each goal, which were now extremely clear as well. I learnt how to break free from my fears and limitations, realising how they were keeping me stuck. Through techniques to increase my confidence, I replaced my negative mindset for a growth one. And, guess what? Life didn’t feel heavy anymore. I was no longer scared. I found myself again, I discovered my why. And I could help people who’d been through the same struggles as me discover theirs.
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Today, I’m a Purpose Coach. I help aspiring creatives get to where they want to be. I meet wonderful people and empower them to thrive in their own personal/creative endeavours, whilst also gradually increasing my creative freedom and having a lot of fun in the process! Today, I only accept TV projects that I WANT to work on, and all the rest of my time is dedicated to helping people, writing and directing my own pieces.
Now, you've got something special within you, something that's completely yours. And guess what? I suspect you already know it deep down. You might feel a bit lost, but you know there's something out there meant for you. Where to begin? What to do?…
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That’s why I’m here.
If you’re craving that sense of fulfilment and want to wake up each day knowing exactly why you're here, you need direction. A roadmap to uncover your purpose and, more importantly, how to create it out loud: well, we can craft that together. You're here to leave your mark on the world, and I'm here to help you do just that. I can show you how you can make friends with fear in order to achieve your goals. How to get confident at pursuing what you truly want. There’s no money that can buy you that, only freedom. I learnt that the painful way.
Are you ready to find your purpose?
Let's dive in, I can’t wait to meet a wonderful creative like you!
MY CERTIFICATIONS
