The news that morning will never sit right. My brilliant mum was diagnosed with glioblastoma and given 3 months to live. It was impossible to digest. To look at her she was a healthy, strong entrepreneur at the top of her game. I put my own life on hold that day to be by her side and face the devastating journey together. We were gifted 10 ‘good’ months, but during that intimate journey with death, so much shifted in my perspective and relationship with life, and unbeknown to me I had begun the greatest physical and mental challenge of my lifetime.

When I lost mum, I found myself picking up the pieces of her three struggling companies and facing a fleet of anxious employees looking to me for hope. I was exhausted having given all I had to mums care, and in hindsight, the cloud of grief lay heavy. My husband and I kept driving through each day on a blinking battery, mounting pressure on ourselves to do more so mums legacy not only survived but thrived. Days turned into years and soon became ‘the norm’. I knew the workload and nomadic lifestyle was not sustainable, but how could we take time out to heal and rest without fumbling the ball or letting people down? 

I was literally walking in mum’s footsteps and needed to change the narrative quickly. We had to become unshakable, and protect our health against the chronic stress, exhausting travel and never ending to do lists, but to build this level of resilience while sustaining our responsibilities seemed an impossible paradox. This challenge led me to open my books, and re-visit my passion for neuroscience and the mind-body connection.