Saving Myself First - Transcend Podcast

I turned 30 the other week. In the morning, I walked 30km's, 10km's for every decade. The very next day I was a guest on a beautiful podcast, Transcend, hosted by Whitney Miller. Sharing my story and continuing to use my voice felt like the very best way to enter my 30's. 

I feel so blessed to have connected with Whitney. One of my close friends actually met Whitney in America and told her a little bit about my story. From there, Whitney contacted me and invited me to be a guest on Transcend and I was all in. I think there is so much value in providing a safe place for people to speak their truth and that is exactly what Whitney has done with her podcast. 

If there is ever an opportunity to share my most vulnerable moments, in the hope that it will help somebody else to face theirs, then you can bet I will take it. After sharing my story at my book launch and again on the podcast, I realised that you never actually know who is listening. 

Just last week I received an email from someone who attended the book launch. They thanked me and said that both my talk and my book have really helped them in supporting their loved one throughout their mental health journey. In that email I was reminded that, even when self-doubt comes flooding in, my voice is having an impact. It showed me that I am exactly where I am meant to be.

"I'm on the right path with this. Everything had to happen exactly the way that it did to put me on this path now. If I can use what I've learnt to help one person, two people, three and if my voice can shine the light on the reality of mental health and also that it IS possible to get through then I will keep doing it." 

Each and every day, this fire inside of me burns bright. Every time I receive an email, comment, message I am reminded why I began to share my story in the first place. I know what I'm doing is helping and to be honest, helping others helps me. It gives me purpose and it gives me connection. And for that, I am so very grateful. 

I'm already looking forward to what the rest of my 30's has in store, something tells me it'll be a great, big adventure. 

As Fat Joe once said, "Nothing can stop me, I'm all the way up." 

PS. You can listen to the podcast here. It's beautiful conversation diving into everything that paved the way for Keep Swimming to be born.