I’m delighted to hand over the reins for this blog to Debs Davies – a lady who has inspired me every bit as much as I have inspired her.  Have a watch here of Debs in person talking about her transformation.

It’s September 2017 and my lowest ebb keeps getting lower and lower and lower. The sticking plasters that I’ve been using to hold everything together keep falling off, seemingly in direct correlation to the number of family sized bags of crisps and bars of chocolate that keep making their way into my mouth. For approximately the 730^th time in the past two years I have a headache.

The plain coloured, oversized clothes I’ve bought hide my growing midriff, yet underneath, my trousers are still straining at the seams. It’s a long way away from the bright colours and bold patterns I used to wear. The mirror just serves as a constant, cruel reminder that I’ve lost my spark. And myself.

Enough was finally enough.

In the days that followed, I began to tell people about the decision I’d come to and, some time later, I told my boss, client and team of my decision to take a break from my corporate career. They all wanted to know my plan. I didn’t have one. All I knew was that things couldn’t continue as they were. It was to be quite some time before a plan emerged*, but first, I had more important matters to attend to.

My health.

You see, Debs had been at the bottom of the priority list for quite some time. Roll back almost 10 years to the sleep deprivation that having a baby, then another one in quick succession, brings. The juggling of a stressful career, with the 50-60 hours a week that entailed, not to mention the expectations and judgements placed on working mums. And, even more punishing, all those judgements and expectations I placed on myself.

I’d worked myself into a hole. A hole that motivational self-care quotes couldn’t get me out of. A relaxing bath didn’t help, fifteen minutes of me-time a day didn’t help. I knew the changes I had to make were more fundamental than that. I needed to shift the foundations, not just re-arrange the furniture.

I knew what I needed to do, but I was so stuck that I couldn’t work out how.

Roll forward a year and it seems like five minutes yet also a lifetime since that decision.

I met Suzy around the time I made that decision and she became the first key that unlocked change in me. There were to be several other keys after that, but they would not have existed if Suzy hadn’t unlocked that first door.

Suzy empowered me to look after my own health and helped me to make a series of lifestyle changes which have completely transformed my wellbeing.

Three of the four stone I’d gained since having kids has gone. I’ve learned how to fuel my body, how to eat to feed my gut and my brain. How to take charge of my own health. I sleep much better, the headaches have gone along with the anxiety and the aches and pains in my body.

You could be forgiven for thinking that I’ve made huge changes. I haven’t. I’ve made lots of small ones. Simple, easy to achieve, effective and, most importantly, sustainable. The change came rapidly and, to this day, keeps gaining momentum.

In less than a year, I have myself back. Debs. I hadn’t seen her for a while. In fact, I’d even forgotten what and who she was. The bright coloured clothes and bold patterns have returned. Neither the mirror, nor the negative voice in my mind are my enemy. I’m back. Me. In all my warts-and-all splendour. And that feels amazing.

You can watch Debs talking about her transformation here. 

*Debs decided to use her own experience to help others and now works as a hypnotherapist and life coach helping people to deal with their negative mind chatter, and to break habits, behaviours and beliefs that hold them back from making change in their own lives.