Who am I?
I am You. I am Me. I am We. I am She. I am unique, and yet I am no different to you in so many ways, I just have a different story and I’ve taken a different route to get to here and now. We all have. The thing is, if I can make changes to lead a happier, healthier and more fulfilled life that I’m continually excited about, then I know that you can too. Sometimes, we just need a little help…
Who was I?
I was the stereo-typical ‘Irish’ 20 something who partied too hard and didn’t look too far into the future. I devoted myself to my chosen career and worked 12 hour days, with 2 days off a month! I loved my work, my friends and my life. I truly believed in the old ‘work hard play hard’ ethos and thought that a tough and sweaty work-out would undo anything negative I’d put into my body. I was super sociable and rarely on my own.
I was brought up in a nutritionally healthy environment with no junk (as we couldn’t afford it) and so I considered myself ‘healthy’, religiously following the next new fad or diet and guiding others to do the same, because “it worked for me!” (Or so I believed). I am the kind of person that always wants to help others, regularly sharing recipes, ideas and contacts with anyone who would listen. I just wasn’t clear on my message.
I also began to practise yoga from my early 20s as a way to deal with my semi-permanent back pain, but otherwise I ignored the voice from deep within, trying to get my attention…
So why change?
I started to notice more and more that I couldn’t be alone. I had to always have company so that I didn’t have to be with myself. I couldn’t be with myself. I didn’t want to listen to what my body was trying to tell me – that all of the unconscious living, eating and drinking was not serving me.
I suffered daily from aches and pains. I got every cold or illness going. (I had an honestly held belief that I had a weak immune system and so I could catch something just by being told about it over the phone!) I had the worst acne on my face – huge boils that needed more and more makeup to cover – which just made it worse. It was painful and embarrassing and really damaged my confidence. I was super stressed and suffering from acute anxiety and recurring back pain. I was regularly at the Doctor’s surgery with ‘this and that’, none of which could ever be explained or resolved. I became increasingly frustrated by this and began to seek alternative solutions – all the while looking for someone else, an outsider, to tell me what was ‘wrong’ with me. And when they didn’t have the answer, I would move on to another. The whole time, I had all the answers within – I just needed someone to show me the way…