It crept up on me. I didn’t see it coming.
I didn’t “feel” stressed so I wouldn’t have given meditation, breathing practices or yoga a second thought. Let alone taking the time to slow down and rest. Sleep was just something that fit into the remaining hours of a busy day, having no idea how important it was.
Becoming a mother in today’s society is something most of us are unprepared for.
I know I was completely focused on getting my children the right amount and quality of sleep, making sure they had nutritious home cooked meals and doing my best to meet all of their emotional needs.
And yet – it never crossed my mind to realise what my needs were.
There was no concept of how much better I could feel as this was just my “normal”.
Maybe looking after myself would actually be the thing my children most needed!
Shortly after the birth of my second child I ended up seriously ill in hospital, I had to be on IV antibiotics.
Losing the feeling of control of my body was a terrifying experience.
The doctor saved my life, for which I will forever be grateful, however, I felt there was a missing piece afterwards. There was no guidance or support to help me build myself up again.
I was busy looking after a young child and a newborn, running a business and a household. I didn’t give my recovery any further thought.
By getting what little rest I could, I got back to a place where I could operate in some kind of way, and just got on with it. Having no idea how rubbish I actually felt. I was a sleep deprived mum of two young children. Surely this was just normal for this stage of life?
Not realising that this deep exhaustion and constant brain fog was my body’s way of screaming for help. Feelings that are normalised in today’s world.
I made it a few months before I crashed. Not even having the energy to read my then 3 year old a book, gave me a sharp wake up call and left me feeling vulnerable and scared.
After going to my doctor, I was diagnosed with autoimmnue hypothyroid.
Starting the medication gave me hope that I would soon be back on my feet, with the freedom of being back to normal life doing all the cooking, cleaning and childcare on my own, whilst juggling work.
The reality being, after a few weeks, I was still spending my days with no energy, brain fog and with overwhelming dizziness forcing me to stop and lay on the sofa. I had this fear of not knowing if I would be stuck feeling like this forever.
All I just wanted was to have energy, sleep well through the night and wake up feeling refreshed.
Scouring the internet for information and coming across the concept of Functional Medicine, I started to see there were other options. I deeply resonated with the individualised science based, holistic approach that looked beyond the symptoms to address the root causes to restore health.
From gradually taking small and consistent steps and looking at all areas of my lifestyle; nutrition, relaxation and rest, movement, sleep and connection, as well as mind-body techniques, I started to see a change. This motivated me to continue, as I felt the effects of starting to actually nourish and look after myself.
Learning to connect back to my emotions and needs has been such a crucial part of my journey with there being so many layers to work with.
The concept of healing the root cause set me on a journey that brought me back to myself, and as importantly, brought me to you.
If you told me back then that I would be enjoying home educating my children whilst running two business, studying and growing food, whilst feeling that I have the tools I need to navigate the inevitable life challenges that come along, I wouldn’t have believed you – but here I am. The best thing is that this was not from an exhausting and depleting juice fast.
It was finding confidents who gave me a safe space to re-discover who I am, who supported me so I could unravel slowly, at my pace, with compassion.
This is what I am offering to you – a serene space to unfold into and get in touch with who you are, to rediscover, reconnect and start that healing process.
