Hello, I’m Alli Aldaz.
I believe the smallest actions often create the biggest ripples.
I’m fascinated by the way our consciousness shapes both our internal and external experience of life. I write and illustrate Thought Loops, a weekly newsletter about what it takes to create personal change. Click here to learn more and sign up.
Outside of the newsletter, I design custom liveries and graphics for race cars and specialty vehicles at SS Customs. Click here to view my portfolio.
My current side quest: Recently, I started keeping an illustrated memory journal, drawing favorite moments from everyday life and travel that feel worth remembering. Sometimes that is a place, an event, or a caricature of a first sweet then sour street cat I crossed paths with in Denmark. At the end of each year, I plan to gather those drawings into a visual shelf portrait of the memories and moments that shaped the year. I’ll eventually be sharing the project and its progress here on the site.
A Question I Keep Coming Back To
Can a person become so internally different that their external life begins to change too?
People are not stuck with the mind, feelings, or habits they currently have. The nervous system is remarkably adaptable, and humans are capable of intentionally becoming someone new.
Awareness is the key.
A Little More About My Story
Experiences that shaped the work I do
Here are a few things that have shaped who I am and the work I do.
2005 to 2020: Navigating binge eating and disordered eating changed the way I think about habit formation and behavior loops. The brain automates what feels familiar, even when the pattern creates suffering. Awareness is often the first step in interrupting the cycle.
2012 to 2016: I developed panic disorder which sparked a lasting fascination with the extent to which thought patterns can shape physiological experience. Many anxiety patterns are unintentionally reinforced by the behaviors meant to prevent them. The brain is constantly learning from our reactions. Resistance can unintentionally strengthen the pattern we are trying to escape.
2012 to 2024: Digestive issues had been part of my life since my late teens and appeared to be strongly connected to years of poor nutrition, while also becoming intertwined with the period of panic disorder and chronic anxiety. During those years, IBS and related symptoms at times became severe enough to heavily disrupt daily life.
Years later, those lower digestive issues evolved into persistent upper digestive symptoms including chronic bloating, brain fog, reflux like symptoms, reduced appetite, and ongoing digestive distress that left me feeling persistently unwell.
While stress and behavioral patterns undoubtedly influenced the symptoms, dietary changes ultimately became the most significant part of recovery. After unsuccessful medical approaches and failed dietary experiments, a carnivore style reset followed by a more sustainable animal based approach to eating became the first intervention that produced truly meaningful improvement.
2016: After being diagnosed with carcinoid cancer in my mid twenties, I underwent surgery to remove the middle and lower lobes of my right lung. I recovered well and largely moved on with life, having been told I was effectively cancer free with no expectation of recurrence. In many ways, I adapted so completely that I rarely thought about or truly appreciated what remained.
2025: Nearly a decade after my original diagnosis, worsening upper digestive symptoms eventually led me back into the medical system. Along the way, a recurrence was discovered in my remaining right lung, resulting in a completion pneumonectomy that left me with only my left lung.
The experience led me into a much deeper exploration of consciousness, perception, and the relationship between thought and lived experience.
Recovery became its own education. Within a few months, I had quickly returned to walking daily, training again, and rebuilding physical strength. The experience again reinforced the idea that human beings are often far more adaptable than they initially believe, particularly when they stop defining their future entirely by their present limitations.
2026 forward: This period marks the beginning of a new chapter and new life. We are preparing to become parents, planning to conceive our first child in early 2027, and choosing the home in Daly City where we will build our family. It is close to the ocean and the city, surrounded by beautiful Bay Area trails, great schools, and my favorite gym in Pacifica.