More of my story
When I went to therapy in 2017, as a result of losing a lot of the sight in my right eye, I was on my knees and felt like my whole world was crashing down around my feet. I had reached my rock bottom and felt I had nothing left to lose. That was the energy I took to therapy and I know I’m not the only one who waits until things can’t get any worse before seeking help. Some call it the dark night of the soul!
Back then I didn’t know how much my childhood was affecting me. My father left with no explanation, my mother was an alcoholic, and there was a lot of chaos in my home. I didn’t feel safe. I developed survival skills - my big one being people-pleasing - and my nervous system was on high alert ALL the time. I took all that with me into my adulthood and kept my feelings buried until age 47 when my children were the age I was when my world got really hard. I had a breakdown (more like a break apart) and went to weekly therapy for 3 years.
Therapy changes you, it certainly changed me, and I’m so grateful that I was able to do that. I was then left with a big question, “Now I am no longer weighed down by the weight of my childhood trauma, who am I?”. That started me down a brand new path. A path that had me tuning into my intuition, discovering I’m a highly sensitive person (HSP) and learning to love myself for who I am. I am enough just as I am.
When I left therapy, I figured that I had learned so much about things I didn’t even know were a thing, that others might find it useful. With the help of a book writing coach I fulfilled a long held ambition to write a book (although it was never my ambition to write a raw and vulnerable book about myself but hey that’s how it rolled) and in December 2021 I self-published my memoir, I See, Me. You can find out more about my book HERE.
It was that second path of self discovery that helped me understand that although I was a lawyer for so long, I was actually coaching people at work. I was helping them see how great they are, supporting them to work things out and generally being a good listener. Initially I trained as a counsellor and reached level 4 but decided to pursue coaching as I felt that was much more me. It was listening to my intuition that made me pursue coaching; a decision I have never regretted.