So many people in your position would just be surviving

That's a direct quote from my bestie last week.

And here’s what I want you to know about that.

People often say to me, “You're so strong.”

And most days — they’re right. And I love that about me. But it's not because I’ve had the easiest life.

I’ve been through things that stopped me in my tracks:

• My parents split up when I was 6. I had constant headaches throughout my childhood and cried without fail every other weekend for years.

  
  

• I've spent what seems like an eternity feeling crap in myself; I have yo-yo'ed with my weight throughout my life from a child to my 30s.

  
  

• I experienced sexual trauma in my 20s and spent months trying to process the trauma through contact with the police, therapy, and panic attacks that made day-to-day life feel impossible. I didn’t take medication because I was lucky to be raised by a dad who offered to pay for a gym membership instead. Exercise saved me then. It pumps me up now.

  
  

• I’ve been the woman who felt rejected, invisible and undesirable in a relationship where I barely had sex for two years and thought it was because I wasn't good enough.

  
  

• I’ve rebuilt my entire life as a single mum, raising two daughters, working hard, despite initially crying in the kitchen while repeating, “I can’t cope” over and over in my head.

  
  

• And less than three months ago, I found my mum collapsed on her bedroom floor after a stroke, heart attack, and fall that fractured her neck. She died a day and a half later. I have actively worked through the trauma.

  
  

But yes — I am strong.

Because I believe we always have a choice.

Not always about what happens to us. But always in how we respond.

Here’s what I’ve learned through it all:

✓ Loving yourself isn’t about spa days. It’s about looking in the mirror and seeing the parts of you you’ve hated and choosing kindness anyway.

✓ Healing doesn’t mean erasing your past. It means no longer letting it run the show.

✓ Being ‘fine’ is often just code for disconnected. You’re doing the things, but you’re not feeling your life.

✓ Strength isn’t pretending everything’s okay. It’s showing up even when it’s not.

Now, I help others do the same — not by giving them a 10-step plan or pretending it’s easy, but by walking alongside them as they reconnect to who they really are underneath all the noise.

If you're tired of holding it together on the outside but falling apart (or just numb) on the inside, stay tuned.

I’ve got something coming — a small offer, a first step, a chance to work with me before I launch bigger things.

For now, just know this:

You don’t have to stay stuck.

You don’t have to go it alone.

And it’s not too late to get REAL AF about your life.