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Life can sometimes feel like a balancing act, but life can also be what you make it! When asked how I manage being a mother, a wife and run Craniosacral Therapy business my answer is this:

“Life is like a homemade bowl of soup, the recipe is love, patience and understanding with abundant sprinkles of gratitude”. This is the base mix, what you may need to hold everything together. But lets be realistic, wanna know what else went into Viv’s life soup recipe?

Disappointment, failure, anxiety and self-sacrificing. You may be wondering why on earth would you add such negative emotions and actions into your life. Well I didn’t, but guess what sometimes you make soup and just like life, it dosen’t always turn out the way you want it to or taste the way you think it should. No matter how hard you microread the instructions or buy good quality ingredients from Trader Joes, the outcome still might not feel right for you. Negative emotions can be helpful to you, working on processing them is key. I have done so much processing naturally on the table in Craniosacral Sessions that I recognise life triggers/blockers as they come when I am off the table. Here is how they have helped me:

• Disappointments fuelled my search for inner happiness

• Failure taught me to thrive

• Anxieties taught me how to process my life blockers and emotions attached to them. This brings me peace, calmness and brings me into alignment. When you are aligned with who you are, anxiousness and insecurities disappear and are replaced with groundedness and confidence.

• Self-Sacrificing, giving everything to others and sacrificing my own needs. It took me years to actually realize this applied to me. After opening a shop front therapy business, working around my husbands long work shifts and having baby no. 2 at the same time (I know yikes), I belived my plan was pretty good and I couldn’t lug a massage table around during pregnancy. I worked 9-5, 6 clients a day, gave my clients the best of me, picked up the kids from school/sitter, bath time, homework, dinner, husband time and then clean up. I thought it worked well because I was able to get it all done. I thought that switching off from work at 5pm and giving my family all of me was enough..but it wasn’t, I was there but I was not fully present. Most people transition from selfishness to self-sacrificing, I did the opposite but in a positive way. I had my own needs, I was becoming drained, I wanted fun family time so I blocked my schedule for quick get aways and I hired therapists to lighten my load. Still, my anxieties showed me that after 3 years, the shop front was moving in a different direction than desired. Just like life’s soup, it needed something more, my taste palate had changed.

Moving my business out of the shop front and becoming a mobile therapist again was a game changer! So I changed my recipe! (literally, I became vegetarian lol). Here’s what I added to my recipe:

• Re-invention – New Business Name/logo

• Determination – Transitioned through feelings of failure to realize, I am the business not a building

• Discipline – Motivation, time blocking, held myself accountable to meet personal deadlines and yes I occasionally have a business conference with myself (it’s good to take yourself out of your home/work environment especially if you’re easily side tracked by laundry baskets)

I maintained great clients, remained highly reccomended from healthcare professionals, I got to utilize more ‘me’ time and learned how to replenish my energy. Home life became balanced, I was no longer tired and stressed and in a place to further my studies in craniosacral Therapy and found the next part of my journey.

I am now an Upledger Certified Craniosacral Therapist and on the path to teaching. My life soup recipe wasn’t straight forward, expected or easy to make how ever, it has been a joy to make, it is full of flavour, uniqueness, it’s good for ME and with plenty of room to change and grow!

Enjoy YOUR soup, don’t like it? Change the recipe!

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