Keep your eye on the prize

The last 6 months has been one of self-healing, dedication and commitment for me to overcome my own fears, doubts and lack of confidence so that I could once again shine my light on women and their birthing partners.

In November 2014 my beautiful wellness and pregnancy clinic was forced to close its doors due to the high cost of rent that we just couldn’t afford.

To me it was like a lifelong dream, a shitload of money and a heartful of giving had just gone down the drain. Poof, gone, no fairy godmother to wave her magic wand and make it all better.

I felt like a failure and grieved for my loss. I still can’t bring myself to go to the centre where I was located, to walk past my beautiful premises I worked so hard to create, to look at my life work I could no longer be a part of.

Now six months later, I sit in my hotel room in Brisbane, happily and humbly looking at my trophy I received yesterday at the national Hypnobirthing Australia conference.

Out of the 100 hardworking, dedicated and committed Hypnobirthing Australia practitioners across Australia, I felt so honoured to be presented with an award for “Outstanding Performance Community Support.”

It took a lot for me to hold back my tears upon acknowledging that I had picked myself up, brushed myself down and just started again, and I am one of those who is highly regarded by my peers.

As I reflect on the loss of my premises I know leading up to that I had become jaded by so many stresses, challenges and ultimately the loneliness I had created by withdrawing into myself. I had become resentful that I had given so much away, had given so much up, and I had let it consume me and almost destroy me.

Wow how things have changed. For the last 6 months, I have again been honouring myself, my dreams and my beliefs and in doing that I am honouring the women I work with. I am focussed, calm and while I am still giving I am receiving at the same time.

I have found my mojo again and I have reclaimed the passion I had before in sharing my skills, my experience and my dedication to birthing women, before, during and after their birth.

The old cliché that when one door closes another one opens. This is true for me, where the closing of those glass doors back in November, and the walls that served as a healing, calming sanctuary for so many others was now behind me and no longer chaining me to a life of stress and despair.

This place of giving is no stranger to all hypnobirthing practitioners. We make it our mission to be the guiding force and mentor of birthing women and their partners. We all have a Vision that one day all women will birth without fear and will be confident in their birthing choices, and know that they do have choices.

My heartfelt thanks to all the Hypnobirthing Australia practitioners I work with. We may have only met physically for the first time yesterday at our conference in Brisbane, but we have shared so much energetically and by working in our online group where we combine our skills, experience, resources, achievements in addition to providing love and support to those who need to debrief after challenges or distress.

Our cohesiveness and pride in our “hypnobirthing family” cannot be measured – it is an abyss of abundance, so thank you.

This is also a reminder to those women that you need to honour, nurture and recharge yourself to be the very best you can be for the women and their partners you prepare, educate and support.

Finally, to an amazing woman Melissa Spilsted, our Director of Hypnobirthing Australia, who has had many of her own challenges and blocks along the path of life. Melissa has always kept her “eye on the prize” and has encouraged and supported each and every one of us individually and collectively to achieve a high standard of professionalism and commitment, but most importantly positive and abundance thinking.

Thank you Melissa, for helping me get back on the road of positive and abundant thinking and for opening my energy centres so I can again share my love, creativity, knowledge and skills with everyone again.