I’ve Been Busy For Twenty Years.

The way I learn is by teaching and the way I give to myself is by giving to others, so while I was leading the sessions, I was actually also a student, going through the motions of trying to transform my environment in real time, with my community. It felt good to be seen and understood and know that others were feeling the same. We all wanted to drastically change our lives. I felt like 2024 is a year of change, and it starts with us, our thoughts and our actions, but sometimes we don’t want to do the work to make it happen. Sometimes we are forced and things happen to us. An external event or some inciting incident might scream at us to wake up and get going with this new life!

After the 10 weeks of sessions, I went on Christmas vacation where a series of unfortunate events occurred which made me believe that the universe was nudging me to move to this new direction faster than I anticipated. I took everything awful that happened to me in Q3 / Q4 of last year as a message - get off this damned train you’re riding! My physical health issues exacerbated my mental health issues and then a few days before Christmas, I closed my laptop and just thought - okay let’s do it. Let’s rebrand my life.

But what does that look like in practice? Every time I closed my eyes, I wanted to be a mom, in my hometown, writing something meaningful. I loved my work, my business and what I do, but I felt like I had chronic burnout. I’ve been busy for twenty years. I arrived in London in 2003 and I don’t feel like I’ve stopped hustling since. It almost feels boring to discuss the trauma of 2020-2023 but I feel like I didn’t give myself any time to recover from it. When you live in the city and especially when you have raised funds, there is this endless feeling of a need to move forward, of not missing out, of not becoming irrelevant and not losing opportunities. You find that your brain is tired from thinking up new ideas all the damn time and you wake up in the morning writing emails in your head. It seems impossible that things may be different. It seems crazy for you to even think about stopping. And I’m here to tell you that while it is terrifying, it is possible to get off the hamster wheel.

I assuaged my fear of change by reminding myself that I’ve done this before. I did this a decade ago actually. In 2013, I moved back to Wolverhampton for 18 months and I talk about it often because I was so happy, productive and peaceful. It was part of my healing journey to return home. I ate good food, spent time with family and rested my nervous system, allowing me to generate my next big ideas. I came back to London in 2015 with a plan to open a new Soho salon, build a VR experience, an AI chatbot and eventually raise venture capital and start a start up. I did it all within 18 months. That time away allowed me to build deep reserves of energy so that I could achieve my next upward trajectory. It was a thrilling and exciting time, but a decade on, the exhaustion has caught up with me again and this time around my body decided to slowly shut down in order for me to pay attention.

And so, my dear Stack Members, I decided to do it again. Using our New Methods tools and more, I made the change. After the 10 Week Course, Christmas vacation reflection and our Vision Setting Workshop, I handed in the notice on my London apartment and moved to the countryside. A mere five months after our New Methods sessions, I made the change I need to revive my spirit and you can too. It may be a new relationship, a new career, or a new country, whatever you need to do to regain your strength, I urge you to do it.

If I make it look and sound easy, please don’t think it was easy. It required a lot of angst, planning and ruminating while still being in an emotional and hormonal funk. A week before I was due to move I woke with a crushing chest pain at 2am. The type of pain I hadn’t felt for ten years. I went to A&E for them to tell me it was a panic attack. I was scared all right, even if I wasn’t allowing my mind to be, my body was holding the fear. I had to calm myself by calling all the successful, creative women I knew who no longer lived in London (Kharmel, Lydia, Laura and Emma). It required me to meet new people on a similar path (join New Methods if you want to meet similar women) it required me to rewrite my personal story and effectively I had to execute everything we discussed over the ten weeks of zoom calls.

I also had to make sure my business was in order. I reorganised the Stack team reducing our burn rate and giving us the flexibility to explore the projects we wanted to. I created over 50 events in app including Executive Realness (so less than £1 per event!) to ensure our Members were still getting value and updated the video library so there are now around 250 videos in app. We have some exciting partnerships coming up this year in order to generate the minimum amount of revenue to cover our bills and then some. I had no desire to quit my business, I just wanted to take it a little slower for the year and maintain our amazing community rather than grow. This year will be about being a sustainable and profitable business. It’s a downturn year, an election year and a war year. Most people are feeling some sort of squeeze. Adjust your forecasts, go easy on yourself and if you simply maintain a flat growth/burn rate, you’ll be doing just fine.

And finally, I found my home. Just twenty five minutes from Wolverhampton, I found a house to form the backdrop to my Season 2. A farmhouse, my sanctuary, a writers retreat, surrounded by fields and trees and birds.

I have been in my house for just three nights and already I have the energy to write this, to share it with you and to hope that you too may be inspired. I did the 10 Weeks to Transform Your Life Course, and a few months later, here I am. When will you enter your Season 2?

Here are the 10 Steps I took to transform my life...

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#1 Was It All Worth It?

#2 Remembering What You Loved As A Child

#3 Permission To Be You

#4 Societal Standards and How they Hold You Back

#5 Making a Commitment to Transforming Your Life

#6 Creating a Season 2 Roadmap

#7 What Do I Do Next? Exploration Tasks For Your New Life

#8 What Got You Here Won't Get You There. Making Drastic Changes To Your Life

#9 Creating Your New Narrative. The Story of Your Next Act

#10 Finale Reflections. Are You Ready For Your Season 2?