The Whispers that Turn into Roars

Do you ever get the feeling that something doesn’t seem quite right with the life you’ve fallen into or chosen for yourself?

There’s an underlying whisper that tickles at the heart of your mind that says “this isn’t what you’re meant to be doing”.

You brush it off like that pesky Mozzie that keeps buzzing round your head and carry on with your ho-hum day and life. Hey, life isn’t bad, but maybe it could be better.

I know the feeling all too well.

At school, after deciding I was “too festively plump” to be a dancer and actress which was first on my list, relied too much on my natural talent and didn’t practice enough to become a musician or school music teacher like my parents had hoped, I opted to fulfil my creative outlet and flair for colour and became a hairdresser.

Hairdressing served me well. I got to talk a lot (another natural talent), win awards (wasn’t quite a Logie or Emmy award I’d once dreamt of), enjoy a steady stream of non taxed dollars by doing hair in my bathroom at home (the privilege of having a trade, before I owned my salon), teach students the trade I’d slogged away at for years when I became a qualified Tafe teacher and also buy and build my own business at a ripe old young age of 22. It seemed impressive and I strived to excel, but no matter what heights I’d soared to in my career, it honestly did’t cut the mustard.

There was an ongoing feeling of:

• “there’s something more for me out there I know it”
• “this isn’t what I’m meant to be doing” This came up day in and day out.
• “I feel a bit trapped and despondent”
• “If there is something else out there for me, who says I’m  good enough to do it”
• “Just work hard, earn money, buy a house, shut up and settle down. That’s how’s it’s suppose to be isn’t it”

I was basically telling my intuition, my inner voice or inner knowing to shut the hell up, I’m busy with life, and you’re stirring up trouble in my head. Unbeknownst to me at the time, trouble with a capital T was being stirred up in my head.

There’s a saying:

The universe gives you a whisper, then a nudge, then a push, then a shove, then an anvil on the head which I like to refer to as the roar.

I learned this the hard way. The whisper was the intuitive knowing  of “this isn’t what I’m meant to be doing”, the nudge was the feelings of dissatisfaction and despondency, the push was well there were a few pushes glandular fever, constant bouts of tonsillitis, stress headaches, german measles, anxiety, a friend dying in a car accident and then because I was a slow learner I got the anvil on the head! That one took the cake.

The Dr said to me after the CAT scan and MRI “Larissa, you have a huge tumour growing in your head behind your left eye, until we operate and take it out we don’t know if it’s cancerous or not. Either way it’s pressing against your brain and we need to get it out”. I replied with my usual sickly humour “does that mean you have to shave my head, these are the best foils I’ve ever had” .

OK shit! Universe I’m FINALLY listening.

An 8 hour operation, week in hospital, mangled face (hey but they didn’t have to shave my hair), recovery time and the news I’d awaited arrived. It’ wasn’t cancer!! It’s time for my second chance at life.

But how do you change?

Then there was problem. How do you change? How do you even know what the right thing is? How do you “let down” all the people that depend on you? How do you give away something you’ve worked so hard at? How do you actually tell everyone the outlandish plans in your head and what will they say?

Then after devouring book after book on change I could get my hot little scissor hands on, one single thing resonated with me.

You don’t need to know the whole plan just the next step.

So I took the next step. Dumped my boyfriend, sold my business, sold my car, did the opposite to what everyone told me I should do and I went travelling on a working VISA to Canada for a year. Something I longed for but used to constantly talk myself out of doing. I bet you’d love to hear the shenanigans I got up to whilst I was over there, but I’ll save that for another time.

I knew I couldn’t travel forever and my cash supply was limited, and of course I needed to come home and face life as I once knew it.

Before I went to Canada and whilst I was there I learned to meditate. I seen a few different natural therapists including a Kinesiologist, homeopath and a naturopath. I started learning to tune into my inner guidance and inner knowing. Apparently this would give me the answers I was searching for. The the next step came up.

What would I like to do (in regards to my career)?

It took a while but finally came to me. I’d like to help people live healthier more enjoyable lives. Hey! I have a second chance I might as well help others enjoy their second chance.

The thing is when you decide to do something new, every single fear you’ve ever had, every doubt, every negative thought you have about yourself, every reason not to, seems to fearsomely bubble up from the depths of your being.

Apparently this is some (I like to think sick possibly outdated) biological function of your brain. It’s job is  to “keep you in your safe zone”. Venturing into the unknown can be wrought with danger such as saber-toothed tigers, bears attacking, getting left out in the cold or in this day and age failure, rejection, loss of income etc.

What’s this tipping point

Slowly working through the doubts and fears I got to what I like to call the Tipping point. The point where your mind starts to turn and you realise there’s way more pain associated with staying the same and NOT changing. This is where you ditch the old, finally get out of procrastination, scarcity and hesitation hut and welcome in the new exciting, still scary changes that await.

You can organically reach the tipping point such as I did back then, (it can be a long and agonising road) but since I’ve been working with people on a one on one level I realised through Life and Mindset Coaching you can balance the mind to minimise the illusionary fears, stress and anxiety we associate with jumping into the unknown. It gets you there much sooner and is why I can listen to my intuition and make change relatively smoothly these days (instead of making myself sick with worry and fear).

If you know anything about me you know the story, I took the plunge! It’s been over 12 years since I’ve been in the hair and beauty industry. I realise  vitality and health, confidence and life fulfilment doesn’t grow abundantly when you’re stuck in the safe zone ignoring the whispers of your inner knowing.

It’s important to build a friendly relationship with your inner guidance. Ignoring her will get you down and out, anxious, sick or even (fill in the blank).

Then you need to understand the mind, The mind likes to fight with the inner guidance. That’s when there’s inner conflict and a battle going on inside. Shera VS Xena Warrior Princess. Who wins? Whoever you give in to….

Change is Hard, but do You know what’s Even Harder? Not Changing!

There are many key points to today’s story:

• Listen to your inner knowing, the inner whispers. Your intuition is your best friend. Listen to her and honour her. Otherwise she will get your attention any way she can (and sometimes it ain’t pretty).
• Feelings including negative feelings are feedback and aren’t to be ignored. Hey, if you’re not listening to your intuition, the next step is to try and get your attention in other ways.
• Just because you can’t see the whole picture doesn’t mean you can’t take the leap. All you need to know is the next step, your inner knowing will guide the way.
• It’s not usually a piece of cake. There’s no rainbows lighting the path, fabio isn’t waiting to fan your brow on the other side, it’s more like ripping a band aid off that’s been on for a week. You just need to do it. It’s feels right and is exhilarating  but can also bring up fear and stress (of course it does, you’re venturing into the unknown). This is normal and can be managed.
• You can get to the tipping point agonisingly slow, or you an get help from a trained Coach or professional. you don’t have to go it alone. I said in the story I got there on my own, but really I learnt so much from my meditation teacher at the time and the holistic therapists I went to. People are there for you to help light the way.
• Although taking a new path in life can be challenging, the rewards definitely outweigh the challenges you overcame to get there. Challenge lets us find our inner power and strength. Once you’ve found it, you can’t give it back xx

From my heart to yours

Larissa xxx

Client Story

“I had reached a stage in my life where I knew that if I didn’t seek some help it would be detrimental to both my physical and mental health. I felt like my wheels were spinning and I was stuck in the one spot not able to move in any direction. You know husbands, kids, grandkids, working, the whole lot was going on, being pulled from pillar to post.