If there’s one question I get asked all the time, it’s this: How do you always turn life’s messiest moments into something magical? How do you take setbacks, heartbreak, and straight up shitty situations… and somehow spin them into gold?

Well…

That’s exactly what we’re diving into today on I Love Me The Podcast. Because let’s be real… Bad things happen, even to the best of us. But what if those challenges aren’t just random acts of misfortune? What if they’re actually doorways to something greater?

In this episode, I’ll be unpacking:

• Why tough times show up in our lives…
• What to do when everything feels like it’s falling apart…
• And how to move forward in a way that feels empowering.

And to bring it all to life, I’ll be sharing a very personal story – one that really tested me – but led my family to where the grass is greener.

 

I‘ll begin this episode by sharing a straw-to-gold moment that happened a bit over a year ago…

My little family had been renting a lovely inner suburb unit in Adelaide, when after a year of minor hostility towards us, our neighbour started to get… well…

…more hostile….

It began with her not allowing access to our power metre, resulting in inaccurate power bills for almost a year…

Then it progressed to her leaving her dog poo all over our lawn, despite us politely asking her to pick it up…

Fast forward a few months, with the real estate unable to resolve these issues… and the Strata manager quitting after finding this lady too difficult to deal with…

And our neighbour places a large pot-plant in a position that obstructs our driveway so we can’t ride our bikes out of it…

… points a speaker out her window directed at us and plays loud doof doof music day and night…

…comes up to my husband and takes photos of him in his face…

…then starts loudly broadcasting serial killer podcasts into our courtyard when she hears my 6-year-old go outside (effectively meaning he can’t go outside)!

Ok that last one was the straw that broke the camel’s back!

What did I do?

I tuned into my True Self for guidance… as you can expect, I got the clear answer:

‘Move! NOW!’

So I set the intention for this move to be easy, and for us to find a place that was even better than the one we were in.

And then I cleared any beliefs that would get in the way of this occurring.

Two days later I inspected a house.

As soon as I walked in, I knew it was ‘the one’!

And you know the funny thing?

I was the only one to inspect the house that day – crazy amid the rental crisis in Adelaide at that time, and the fact that every other house I’d inspected that day, had plenty of people attending.

And those other houses were the same price, in the same suburb, and not nearly as nice.

Two days later that house was ours.

For the same price as what we’d been paying, living next door to the lady with issues.

A week later we were in, living in our new house, with a bigger backyard, and beautiful patch of grass to do yoga on, larger rooms, prettier renovations… AND the neighbours were sooooooo welcoming and lovely.

Seriously, the nicest neighbours I’ve ever had!

AND the new home was waaaay closer to my son’s school and my husband’s work – walking distance in fact.

Oh, and because of our calm approach to our neighbour’s ongoing antics, our old real estate gave a raving review to our new real estate, and let us exit our lease penalty-free!

That was me turning straw into gold.

Because you know what… life happens.

Shitty things happens.

And it’s in these moments we need to ask ourselves:

How is this happening for me?

Because challenges arise of a reason.

For us, clearly, it was to have more ease in being closer to school and my husband’s work.

Walking distance to bushwalks for me…

Having a nicer place that felt roomier and more homely, while still being low maintenance.

A garden where I could grow and harvest my herbs…

Life here was easier, more gentle on our nervous systems, and we felt much more engaged with the local community here.

We’d actually been thinking about a possible move closer to my son’s school, but the effort involved with moving, it kept me sitting in my comfort zone.

Living in a place that wasn’t quite in alignment anymore.

And so the universe gave us a nudge in the right direction.

And the reason it got so bad with our neighbour, was because we didn’t listen to the smaller nudges.

The hostility had been gradually building and building over the course of a year…

And that’s the thing…

If we don’t listen to the little nudges, then we’ll be given a much BIGGER nudge.

Like our neighbour putting buckets of poo right next to where we get into our car, ockey strapping them to the the tree that was in our way, taking photos of my husband…

Yes, the universe gets up in your face, through the people and things and circumstances around you, until you listen.

Until you’re willing to make the move, take the action, do the things that needs to be done, so you can expand into a truer version of yourself.

So you can allow in the growth that is trying to happen.

My point is…

Sometimes, life (the universe, God, angels or whatever you believe in) sends a mentally disturbed women to turn your life upside down so you can get the push you need to step into a more expansive space.

A more expansive way of living…

And as long as we have the tools to navigate those proverbial ‘mentally disturbed women’, that are there to usher in the new…

Then life can easily transform for the better.

The truth is..

We all experience adversity – unpleasant or difficult situations – at various points in our life.

How you travel through these times, depends entirely on how solid you are within yourself.

How connected you are to yourself.

And perhaps as you’re listening to this, you’re wondering what it means to be connected to oneself…

And does that make a difference amid all the turmoil life can throw at you?

I believe it does.

Absolutely.

Think of a tree.

In fact, consider yourself a tree.

Crazy I know.

But just indulge me for a moment!

Imagine right now, that you are a tree.

If your feet are rooted firmly into the ground – if you have strong, healthy roots that stretch deep into the Earth – then no matter what storm or flood, whatever the extreme adversity that comes your way, you will remain standing.

Stable.

You have the root system – the solidarity within yourself – to weather the storms of life.

But if, on the other hand…

You haven’t spent time growing your connection to the Earth – to yourself – if you’re not grounded and connected to your inner voice, then when that storm hits, you’ll be uprooted.

You’ll lose your stability.

Emotionally, physically.

Without having taken the time to strengthen your inner resources, your root system will not be deep enough, for you to withstand the pressure of the adversity.

It’ll be too much for you to deal with.

When the floodwaters arrive you’ll be swept away in a rush of anxiety, panic, fear and overwhelm.

And when we’re letting our emotions run riot, they dictate the decisions we make.

In my experience, I DO NOT make good – expansive decisions – when I’m in a place of fear.

Like with our ‘interesting’ neighbour…

I could have got angry about how it wasn’t fair that we were being treated so poorly, and that the real estate was unable to fix the problem… and we had to call the police on her..

I could have gone into fear about how difficult it might be to find a new place amid a rental shortage…

I could have let all the stress and overwhelm of the situation devastate me, and as a result, cripple my immune system…

Because that’s what stress and fear do, they lower our immunity.

I talk about the science of this in Episode 40: The Physiology Of Fear.

If you’re someone who easily goes into fear, know that:

Fear is a creation of the mind.

When we can be present, we realise in this moment there is nothing to fear.

I share specific teachings on how to get out of a fear-state in Episode 39: When Little Miss Fear drops round for a cuppa.

So what does it mean then, to dig deep, and find your foundation in the world we live in?

Like the tree, how do you grow your root system, so you can withstand the winds of life?

Well.. we need to go beyond the ‘thinking’ mind.

We need to tap into our inner voice, which is free of our limiting thoughts and belief systems, beyond our behaviours and identity.

There is an unshakable foundation deep within you.

And your only job in this lifetime is to find that foundation, and cultivate that connection to self.

We have many opportunities in life to do this.

And those opportunities often come in the form of difficult people or difficult situations.

For we don’t wake up when we’re sitting in our comfort zone.

We wake up when adversity hits and we’re forced to dig deep and rely on our foundations, so we can facilitate new growth.

So we can cultivate our connection to ourself.

For we have all we need within us to support ourselves through these troubling times.

There is a wise inner voice within you – one that I like to call our True Self – that is there to guide you, grow you and expand you into your most authentic self.

I share more about one’s True Self in Episode 4.

Now there’s nothing wrong with your comfort zone; enjoy it when you’re in it.

But… if you don’t step out of it occasionally, to allow the growth to happen, then life will push you out of your comfort zone so you have no choice but to either suffer or grow.

So when you’re met with a disturbed neighbour or some other adversity…

Know this…

It’s come into your life to encourage you:

To strengthen your practices.

To look at the things you’ve been avoiding, so you can grow your connection to self.

So you can strengthen your root system.

So you can build your foundation.

So you can experience more love, and a whole lot less fear.

Any challenges you’re currently facing, are there to wake you up.

To invite you to grow your root system.

So you have a solid foundation upon which to live your life.

What looks bad on the surface always has a deeper purpose.

And until you’re willing to explore that purpose – journal or meditate on it – then you’ll stay stuck in the suffering.

Life becomes almost unbearable if you only live on the surface of life – identifying with your ‘thoughts’.

That is the tree that isn’t rooted deeply enough into the Earth.

So take a moment now to ask yourself honestly:

What is my root system like?

Does it go deep enough to support me in living fear-free at this time of adversity?

Is it deep enough to hold me in love, amid these uncertain times?

And if not, what practices can I begin today, or recommence, that will help guide me into a more rooted way of moving through life?

I share so many beautiful practices on this podcast to support you in this.

What I will say is, that you need to be willing to actually do them.

And continue to do them, so your foundation can solidify.

If you want more guidance, and want my most in depth methods for moving through the challenges of life, doors to my Remarkable Relationships course have just opened.

This 3-month journey into self, gives you the tools and framework that will instil you with the confidence, certainty and inner connection you need to turn straw into gold.

To heal your biggest life challenges and obstacles.

It’s called Remarkable Relationships, because it starts by teaching you how to cultivate a healthy relationship with self, so you can then enjoy healthy relationships with all corners of your life, from finances, to health, and everything in between.

This 3-month intensive online program gives you the life skills you need to:

>> Rise above life challenges no matter how crazy or BIG they feel

>> Foster a loving relationship with your inner wise person so you can always feel internally guided

>> Clear the limiting beliefs and conditioning keeping you from having all that you want in life because really, it’s just our beliefs that get in the way of living our dream life

>> And Cultivate the innate confidence and belief in yourself, that allows you to truely thrive!

If this sounds like what you’re ready for, then please know that I am here for you, and I promise to share all I know, to support you in turning your straw into gold (no matter how trodden on, grotty or mouldy your straw has become).

I’ll pop a link to the program details in the show-notes, and please know, that is you do enrol in this program, that a percentage of profits go to planting trees, so together, we can re-robe Mother Earth.

And that brings us to the final episode of Season 3!

I’ll be taking a little Winter pause to slow down, recharge, and dream into what’s next.

But don’t worry—I’ll be back with the first episode of Season 4 on August 6.

In the meantime, this is the perfect moment to catch up on any episodes you may have missed, or revisit the ones that really lit you up. There’s always more to receive the second (or third!) time around.

Until then, take care of your beautiful self—and thank you for journeying with me.