Mom of 3, born to the stage, had a wonderful career from very young in television. At 28 had my first child and everything changed. In my TV career I met some amazing artists, authors, sports stars, rockstars, celebrities you name it, But nothing compared to the fulfilment I got from raising my children. This is not everybody’s story, but it is my story, the 16 years of my life revolved around children, husband, staff, extended family, work, dogs – I slowly was pushed to the back of the priority queue. Not intentionally, or consciously, it’s just part of the job of being a mom.
If you are wondering if this is true for you – ask yourself what your favourite restaurant, colour, movie or even food is? I guarantee you its whatever the majority of the family is happy with or if it is a colour its whatever no one else in the family wants. Life becomes a series of leftovers , compromise and never really giving yourself the opportunity to be prioritized. Don’t get me wrong, before I got married I made it quite clear that my choice was to raise my children, and given the option I would choose it again, but the balance was out.
So as the world went into the depression of the covid lockdown – I was given a golden ticket to invest in me. No lifts, no lunchboxes, no shopping, no decisions to be made. The gift of time! Priceless! But sadly both my husband and I were in hospitality so lost our income for the next 2 and a half years due to hard restrictions.
6 years ago I had met the amazing Jim Kwik, my brain coach, through Mindvalley. A childhood brain injury forced this boy with a broken brain to find a new way of learning and evolve into a magnificent memory and brain specialist. Inspiring people of all walks of life to be better brains! Vishen Lakhiani the entrepreneur and creator of Mindvalley presented me with the most amazing platform for self-improvement, body, mind and spirit through short bite sized daily video tutorials. Practical daily habits to immediately infuse into my life to be the best version of me to ultimately be of the best service to others.
Ben Greenfield my fitness coach had a holistic fitness program called the Longevity blueprint. Not just to live long, but to live well - strong and healthy. I loved the program but Mindvalley was dollar based so not affordable with the exchange rate to the weak rand. I reached out on Insta to Vishen and this incredible man – by the grace of God, responded in a DM to me and gifted me access to the most incredible university in the world, Mindvalley membership. I had no idea that this was the start of the training camp God was putting me on!
I grabbed the gift with both hands – and with the help from my friends Vishen, Jim, Ben and my nutritional coach Eric Edmeades and Wildfit over the next year I devoured all I could on Mindvalley and transformed my life. I fostered the habit of discipline, lost 10 kgs, I decluttered, took up meditation and learnt to say no to others and finally put myself at the front of the queue.
It’s the age-old analogy of oxygen to yourself first then to others. Jim says, self care is not selfish and so my opinion of myself evolved to realising I am certainly worth investing in.
In the December of 2020 we had a robbery and my daughter was home alone, this was a huge shock to my system and when I got covid in the Feburary of 2021 I was hit hard! Fortunaltey thanks to Mindvalley I went into it the fittest and healthiest I had ever been.
My immune system took a massive hit, I lost my hair in chunks, dropped to under 50kg’s
I was on a drip, risking everything to avoid going into hospital and be another statistic, but the habit stacking and lifestyle I had been living thanks to Mindvalley got me back on track fast and 2021 saw John and Missy Butcher join my team and cultivate and curate my Lifebook fostering a direction and ambition for 12 pillars of my life. A blueprint for my future.
Fast forward to May of 2022 - I was diagnosed with breast cancer, I had been in 3 years of training and the strongest I had been physically since my 20's. Dr Sri Kumar Rao echoed in my head, Is it a good thing or a bad thing? Who knows!
I quickly implemented what I had learnt from countless Mindvalley teachers and courses and got myself on track determined to have a positive journey that would yield the best possible outcome.
I fully respect that this is not everybody’s journey with cancer but following my mastectomy in July I read a book called Radical Remissions by Kelly Turner PH.D. who studied 10 years of stage 4 radical cancer survivors – there were 9 key factors which that they shared and all of these factors were already in play with me thanks to Mindvalley and I have absolutely no doubt that this contributed to my cancer free recovery and most importantly my mental state throughout my difficult journey.
I quickly implemented what I had learnt from countless Mindvalley teachers and courses and got myself on track determined to have a positive journey that would yield the best possible outcome.
I fully respect that this is not everybody’s journey with cancer but following my mastectomy in July I read a book called Radical Remissions by Kelly Turner PH.D. who studied 10 years of stage 4 radical cancer survivors – there were 9 key factors which that they shared and all of these factors were already in play with me thanks to Mindvalley and I have absolutely no doubt that this contributed to my cancer free recovery and most importantly my mental state throughout my difficult journey.
So here we are, I know there isn’t a woman around who isn’t exhausted, sidelined, everything to everyone, desperate to get back on track to finding herself and following her dreams.
Mindvalley gave me the keys to small, simple steps to start the journey to finding myself and becoming fit, healthy, and mentally charged to be the best version I can be to better serve myself and ultimately those around me. When you are playing as the best version of yourself, you can take on anything. Even something as scary as cancer.
I am eternally grateful and could not recommend a better platform for friendships, fun and tremendous self-growth.
Thank you Mindvalley.
