Paradox

The Paradox of Choice: More options can lead to less satisfaction.
The Paradox of Control: The more you try to control everything, the more out of control you feel.
Backstory
Early Life
Sylvie grew up in a small coastal town, the eldest of four children in a home that ran on emotional turbulence and practical neglect. Her mother was often absent either physically or emotionally and her father, though present, was a man of few words and fewer comforts. Sylvie became the quiet orchestrator of stability: packing lunches, soothing nightmares, translating adult chaos into child sized calm.
She learned early that love was not a feeling it was a task. And she became exceptional at it.
Adolescence
In high school, Sylvie was the girl who knew everyone's secrets but shared none of her own. She volunteered at the local hospice centre, drawn to the quiet dignity of endings. While her peers chased noise and novelty, Sylvie found solace in silence. She kept journals filled with observations, not confessions always watching, rarely revealing.
Adulthood
Sylvie trained as a nurse, specializing in palliative care. She was revered for her bedside manner: gentle, intuitive, unflinching in the face of grief. Families trusted her with their most vulnerable moments, and she bore them with grace. But after each shift, she drove to the edge of town, parked by the sea, and sat alone until the ache of others drained from her skin.
She married once a kind man who mistook her quiet for peace. He wanted closeness she needed space. Their love was real but misaligned. After five years, they parted with mutual respect and quiet sorrow.
Present Day
Now, Sylvie lives in a modest cottage near the cliffs, surrounded by native plants and wind worn stones. She still works part-time at the hospice, but she's begun writing essays on grief, solitude, and the strange intimacy of caregiving. Her words are spare but resonant, like the woman herself.
She's known in her community as the one who shows up when it matters and disappears when it doesn't. People call her mysterious, but she's not hiding. She's just choosing.

Marie Bryce is an author, researcher, and story curator whose work bridges personal growth, leadership, and emotional intelligence through the power of everyday narrative. With a background in coaching and neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), she has built a distinctive career transforming real-life experiences into actionable, heart-led learning tools.
Her writing journey began not in a publishing house, but in community centres, classrooms, and quiet conversations with change-makers who didn't realize they were leading. Marie's first works emerged from her coaching sessions, handcrafted workbooks, reflection pages, and training guides that distilled complex concepts like strategic vision, servant leadership, and democratic decision-making into simple, relatable stories. Her mission: to make leadership feel human again.
Over time, Marie cultivated a deep practice of story-based research. She sat with nurses, teachers, parents, coordinators, and community leaders listening, noting, and pulling forward the invisible moments of emotional courage that rarely make it into textbooks. These became the roots of her signature author approach: narrative nonfiction with a practical soul.
Marie's storytelling style is grounded in:- Emotional clarity: She writes characters that mirror real struggles burnout, self-doubt, quiet acts of courage and offers gentle insight through their choices.- Practical transformation: Her books don't just inspire; they guide. Every story is followed by workbooks, EQ reflections, ripple maps, and leadership tools that readers can use immediately.- Real-world research: Every leadership archetype from servant to strategic is informed by documented stories, interviews, and on-the-ground exploration.