| My story |
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My life has been an incredible journey from a place of extreme sadness to one of joy and acceptance – and it’s been quite a rollercoaster ride along the way. When I was only 13 years old I was a participant in our sports day at school. I was involved in a tragic accident in which a friend of mine died. Although the school was found to be at fault I blamed myself entirely. Twenty years ago therapy was not considered and I got no help to come to terms with what had happened. This led me on a journey of self-destruction over the next 20 years. I didn’t really care whether I lived or not. For many years I asked myself the question “Why was I born? Why am I here? Why did this have to happen to me? What is the purpose of all this?” The quest in search of these answers led me on an inner journey to find out who I really am. I had always known that I wanted to go travelling. I knew that it was the one thing that I would regret not doing. I used to dream about travelling and every time I would go away on holiday, I never wanted to come back. A few years ago I left my sales career, followed my dream and went on a 16 month trip around the world. This was the most amazing experience of my life so far - it was incredible. I started to uncover the ‘real me’, the me that I had always known was in there somewhere. The me that had got lost amongst the guilt, blame and cripplingly low self-esteem I had as a result of the experiences my childhood. On my return from travelling I realised that I couldn’t go back to the life that I had before. The real me wasn’t prepared to compromise who she was anymore. I followed my heart, retrained to become a Life Coach, got further qualifications in NLP, Hypnotherapy and Reiki and set off on a new and exciting adventure that has led me here today. I began to give talks and workshops and to coach people on a 1:2:1 level. Following my intuition and listening to myself, I began to realise that I could use what I have learned from my own life experiences to help other people to create more fulfilling lives. “I have heard many 'inspirational speakers'. And yes, they do usually inspire me, for a little while, any way. Hearing about someone's journey through life, the challenges they have faced and how these have been overcome are good ways to feed our soul and put our own challenges into perspective. No one, however, has moved me as much as Lis Cashin, our speaker at the AWP networking event in London, who spoke publicly for the first time about a devastating tragedy that changed her life. She spoke from her heart and I believe her story will remain with me for the rest of my life. So thank you Lis. You are an amazing, truly inspirational woman.” Dawn Charles, Founder www.thewomensretreat.co.uk
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