ABOUT MY JOURNEY
I am a list-obsessed, mindfulness advocating, lifelong learner, ready to teach you how to unlock the happiness already within you, and how to find the best in each day.
Like it or not, adversity, heartache and grief are all normal parts of life.
No one gets a free ride.
Not me. Not you. Not even the woman with the perfectly white smile and flawless skin on the front of the latest glossy magazine.
My life has been shaped by some of the regulars that you may know yourself: depression, anxiety, cancer, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), substance abuse. These words may be permanent stains for me and my loved ones, but I now know they do not have to define us.
Some of you may face tougher journeys than others might, but I want to show you that you’re always capable of finding happiness and peace, even during the darkest times.
Because if I can, then anyone can.
All you need is this life, and this moment.
HOW PTSD BECAME PART OF MY STORY
We met in 2002. He was an outstanding and passionate paramedic, and I a fresh and ambitious pharmacist. We helped others. It was – is – our shared passion.
We married in 2006.
We vowed to take each other, to have and to hold, from this day forward. For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.
No one can know what those words might have in store for you down the track. No one can know how much those vows will be tested through the years.
It was 2011 when we had our first real taste of worse.
We had already welcomed two darling babies into our world when a most unwelcome stranger started hammering on our door. For a time, we tried our best to ignore the persistent noise, but clearly, this was not going to go away unheard.
And so, into our fold barged Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in all its ruthless and beastly glory, and our lives have never been the same since. More than ten years of being on the frontline with Australian Ambulance had eventually taken its toll.
It’s now 2021, and we have become a family of five, but worse is still very much with us. My husband may be the one with the diagnosis, but we all live with PTSD.