I’m sharing a little piece of me with you to help inspire you to reach your goals and do what resonates with you no matter what obstacles can be put in your way.
My journey so far has been filled with love, hardship, heartbreaking moments, joy, depression – you name the emotion and I’m sure I have felt it.
Losing both parents before I turned 40 (losing my mum and a little of my heart at 20 years old and my dad – who I’m sure died of a broken heart after mum passed – when my son was in my belly!) I’ve had to find my strength. I was luckily surrounded by amazing family and friends whom we all helped get through the tough times. I have felt the darkest of dark moments where I could have ended it all but my love for my family and their love for me was enough to get me through. I was also lucky enough to find yoga. This is where my life changed.
I was always fairly positive but extremely high strung (which I still am occasionally…) but I found yoga gave me time to be at piece, find joy in the little things and also be in the present. Through poses, I could bring my attention to my breath and allow the thoughts to come in but also to pass on by.
I must admit, I’m a bit of an over achiever, so when my girlfriend dragged me along to my first class and I wasn’t the most flexible – I was instantly addicted because, of course – I had to be the best! Looking back now I laugh and laugh – this is totally what yoga is not about! But it got me hooked which I am forever grateful for. It only took a few months until I was looking forward to the meditation at the end of the class as much as the poses and eventually, I would be in such a deep meditative state in class that I felt like I was the only one there. This was an awakening moment for me.
I met my now husband during this period and he was the one that pushed me to explore my passion for yoga through a teacher training course. Now, if you know me and my husband, we don’t do things by halves, so of course I took myself to Mexico to complete my yoga course. I had weeks and weeks of annual leave to take and I wanted to focus completely on me and the course – be a little selfish for once!
I found this amazing course where I could live in a teepee on the Baha Peninsula for weeks and weeks without electricity, phone reception but with an amazing course and delicious food! Heaven. The school is called Yandara and I can’t wait to take my family back there one day – post COVID of course!
When I came home, I quite my full time job, found a part time job which would allow me to focus on teaching – This was fun times! Whilst we were both enjoying life (me – managing a health club and introducing yoga to members who had never experienced it before – joy! and my partner managing his successful city based photography studio) my partner proposed and suggested getting married in Byron Bay. He was a little worried that once he took me to Byron, I wouldn’t want to come home and he was completely correct! 🙂
We married, moved from being city based to Peninsula based (along with both of us running weekend retreats with hubby cooking and me facilitating) and we were loving life. I started Managing at Peninsula Hot Springs which was a role I am forever grateful to experience. This place was pure bliss. It was when I was in my happy place that I luckily enough, finally became pregnant.
Unfortunately – darkness struck again when my dad passed away. My son was in my belly during this time which somehow gave me joy, piece of mind knowing dad was with mum and a feeling that everything would be ok.
We gave birth to our little bundle of joy whom has since given us endless moments of love and happiness. My hubby decided to have a change of career so we bought into a soon to be opened restaurant. We both laugh about that crazy time and say we had two babies – our 3 month old and the brand new restaurant – were we crazy? I think we are just a little….
Fast forward 6 years – through tears, laughs, highs and lows – this little restaurant was a go to destination on the Mornington Peninsula – largely due the hard work and dedication of my hubby. But it also took it’s toll… on relationships, on family time and on the body – both mentally and physically. So when the opportunity came to sell our share – we both agreed it was time. And enter COVID…
What a ride, we were lucky enough to buy a property in Byron Bay on our honeymoon (this is another story) which we had rented permanently for the past 10 years so we thought “what are we waiting for – this is our chance and our turn!” Unfortunately – the Premiers of Victoria and New South Wales didn’t agree and we went into hard lockdown.
Stories of lockdown in Melbourne are varied – some good some bad but I think we mostly agree it was a tough time for most Victorians. We spent the time planning our escape to Byron and when it looked like the outbreak was eventually under control we booked our moving truck and everything aligned to allow us to start on our next adventure…. and now we are living in paradise (AKA Byron Bay). We’re loving life (although tough at times without fam and lifelong friends) but it is exactly where we need to be.
So that’s my story so far. I suppose what I would want others who read my story is that it’s ok to be vulnerable and feel your emotions and it’s ok to lean on others when you need to. It’s also ok to feel take a leap of faith and follow your dreams – life is short we need to make the most of it – whatever that means to you. Life is a gift – go and enjoy! xx
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