You never know who you’re inspiring

I was guided to Reiki and at the time I had no idea what it was. I still do not fully understand how powerful it is as a healing tool. Knowing how little I knew but how right it felt to go on this path, I needed something in between, a steppingstone where people knew and understood (as much as I did) about the direction I was taking my career. I was told in a spiritual reading that I would be prompted by a reoccurring advert.

Scrolling through Facebook would be my evening distraction, we were in a lockdown after all, I saw no one, I was at home with the dog. She doesn’t hold a great conversation but at least it felt like someone was listening to me…? So, to keep in touch with the outside World, Facebook became very handy…Sports Massage Therapy – There it was, or was it? Don’t overthink this Sarah, just reach out and apply.

An intensive course in Sports Massage Therapy, this would get me started. It wasn’t too far; it was a weekend course, and I would be qualified in 2020! Perfect! The course was hard work, we met every Sunday afternoon for 12 weeks, for most part of the session it was to cover the practical side of the course. There was a lot of theoretical to learn, more than I had bargained for to be completely honest. But I did it! The challenges started to come along afterwards and my advice to you now would be; Check your governing body or association before you choose a course. Make sure the course is one they would approve; it makes it much easier. Since completing the Sports Massage course in December 2020 I have continued to study in a direction I did not see coming.

When I was reaching out to old clients to tell them I had sold the accountancy firm (see previous blogs), I spoke with one person and she was telling me about this amazing course she was doing, NLP, she was so excited and full of enthusiasm, so I asked to be introduced to the tutor for a chat.

NLP has led me to a completely different mindset to the one I had before. Its allowed me to create a true map of me, to continue working on me, it all feels a little mystical, but it is truly powerful. I have a toolbox of what can only be described as spells to facilitate change to those that want to change. And guess what; You can be whomever you want to be! And you can change and change again if you want. Life has a roadmap which we complete and colour in, you may see a mountain and the person next to you sees an adventure. You might see the sunsetting as drawing a close to a day whereas someone else will see this as a new day beginning. AND guess what; no one is wrong! When we have the power to see this our world can change, our thoughts, our behaviour, our future.

I have continued my development and learning of the subconscious mind, and I completed a mastery in NLP and I am also a Hypnotherapist! I also continued my development with my spiritual learning and have completed courses in Crystal and Reiki healing. I have knowledge and qualifications to work with Mind, Body and Soul and I love every minute.

The reason why I wanted to share my story with you is because everyone has a story about their life, or an important part of their life. When we write about our story and share with others, we can help people overcome challenges that they might be facing or give them strength and belief in what they are doing. We all have bad days, and we all have great days. Sometimes good moments in days are hard to see than other times but if you look hard enough there will always be someone there to support you or guide you along. Look out for the signs, listen to positivity, and start your journey now or maybe share it with someone and inspire them.

Selling a business is not for the fainthearted…  

The events from the 12th February 2020. I sought support to help me move forward, mentally, from the car accident, emotionally it really got me. I finally contacted (through recommendation) a spiritual medium, Nicola Harvey. And today was the day when I would first speak with Nicola.

In between the car accident and now I had made the decision to sell the company that I had been building for the past 6 years. I needed to create a life doing something else, but initially I just needed a break, time out to remember who I was, I wasn’t lost but I was void. Void of joy, void of being able to see ahead and plan a life. I was determined not to let life pass me by. The wheels were in pre-covid motion, and the company was be valued and packaged up to sell, privately, this was not public knowledge, in fact I didn’t really tell anyone for 12 months, not even family.

Today was my first ever spiritual reading. I wasn’t too sure what to expect and if I am being completely honest a little bit sceptical. What was this all about, what was supposed to happen? Nicola soon connected me with my Grannie, Granddad was reading – I could picture it and see what they were doing and their mannerisms. I was guided through a reading based on my past and present which was accurate. The future guided me to a place of comfort, and I didn’t need to know where or what I was doing but to trust in the path…OK….

It was clear that I needed to focus on what I was doing. Trust the path; simple! Time passed on this journey really slowly, it was almost like waiting for the school day to finish…. every day, like every minute, seemed to pass slower, sometimes it felt like the second hand didn’t move or even went backwards… Sometimes I would question the pathway, a bit like how I would question myself. Imposter Syndrome is quite common, although a bit like NLP not many people have heard of it, yet they suffer with it. Imposter Syndrome is where we fail to recognise ourselves and the good we do, we might focus on the bad, not recognise our successes, feel like a fraud…well this was me. I felt like a tiny fish in a huge pond of expects waiting to be gobbled up by a larger fish that was going to see through me and declare me as incompetent! All my clients would leave and ask for their money back, my name would be a warning to those businesses owners to make sure they carry out due diligence on their accountants. Dealing with this for years alongside remembering client deadlines (these CANNOT be missed) and yet for the first 5 years of running the business they were all in my head, every system, every client, every issue, every HMRC deadline, their fees, their services, not to mention names the spouses name, any children, the dogs, cats, horses, goldfish, birthdays etc. You name it, it was stored in my head – the clients spoke with me about their accounts, their issues and sometimes when stuff was going wrong behind the scenes at home!

When I reflect back to that day in February 2020 and what came from it, I now recognise how amazing I was supporting all my clients, they might not have always like the outcome of their tax bills, the payroll figures, knowing what suppliers they owed money to or even hearing from me to pay me. BUT I supported over 170 client accounts in the end, pretty much single handed. I am extremely proud of myself for doing this and so thankful for the relationships I had with the clients, that in most cases became friends.

I would never have been able to say that when I was running my business, in the end I just wanted to hide – it was exhausting! The processing of selling a business, if you haven’t done it before is not for the faint hearted. If this is something you are considering doing, make sure you have the best team around you. It was at this point I realised that I was in charge, I know that sounds a bit weird, but I think I used to let me clients rule the business, and I just did the work, pulled left, right and centre and made a deadline. I never really took control; I always hid in the work itself. So, when I was making the decision about selling, I was in full control, except when it came to bartering and contract terms etc. Selling a company is like asking your husband* (*delete as appropriate) for a divorce, but you’re not allowed to tell ANYONE!! You must go through everything with a fine-toothed combe. Imposter Syndrome was huge – OMG they are going to go back through my accounts, and I will have committed fraud, they will find this and report me, and I will go to prison. They will then see I have repeated this across my client accounts, and they will report me, I will go to prison. At points I genuinely believed I was going to prison, they were going to see me as a big, fat fake and I was going down!! Obviously, they didn’t find anything detrimental, and the sale went through but for me the comparison, selling my business versus divorcing my husband, level of stress: The Business WINS! Every day for the best part of 9 months, moving out (of the office), dividing items, contacting suppliers, phoning clients to tell them, the whole thing was emotional, physically, and mentally draining.

I did it. I achieved it. It is one of my successes.

So, what was next….

Life is for living…

Have you ever had something happen in your life that makes you stop and think what the f*** am I doing, and from that moment change happens? You suddenly realise that you can get off the bus and start a new journey, whether that be a relationship, work, a habit, the way you behave…some people refer to these as a Lightbulb moment, it was like flicking a switch and I saw things in a different way. Well, this is what happened to me a little over two years ago…

October 14th, 2019. Friday morning, my alarm goes off, it’s 4:30am, it’s a networking morning. BNI breakfast meeting in Northampton, so to get there early I need to leave by 5:30am, it’s a half an hour drive to Northampton. The mornings are dark, and this one was particularly miserable as it was raining.

I got ready and was in the car by 5:30. I was an accountant back then, I provided bookkeeping and accountancy services to lots of small businesses and individuals, I loved my job, helping people and providing a service that people could afford. I had so many clients that I ended up working most weekends, evenings…I would miss invitations to parties or going out with mates as I would work all the time. It was like being on a roundabout in a play park being pushed around and around, feeling dizzier and not be able to jump off, because you say to yourself it will stop soon, and soon as it started to slow down your mate would jump off and push it faster, inevitably it would stop, and this would be because I had made myself ill, so I had no choice but to stop. Ultimately, I lived a work-based life, something I used to tell my clients not to do. Why? Because it wasn’t healthy, life is for living so make sure you enjoy what you do and enjoy life, it’s far too short!

So, I am in the car, and I am on my way to BNI, the rain had slowed right down as was more like drizzle, but it was still a miserable drive. I am heading into a small village, Stoke Goldington. I haven’t passed any other cars or have any others in front of behind, it’s just me. I can see the top of the 30 signs as I approach the blind summit into the village, I start to slow down from the 60 MPH speed limit. And there it was. Two sets of headlights travelling towards me. I knew instantly at that moment this car that was overtaking another car and accelerating at me was going to hit me. Everything went quiet. I hit the brakes as hard as I could, gripped the steering wheel, braced and closed my eyes…at this moment you think about the ones you love, leaving them behind, the dog that’s waiting for you to come home, your family, your friends, your whole life flashes before you. I didn’t. I thought about what my clients would do without me and that I would be missing their deadlines.

BANG! This was my lightbulb moment.

I am alive, I am on my own, I am in a dangerous place on the road. I look into the rear-view mirror and see brake lights (I am praying they don’t drive off) and then I see reverse lights, phew. I need to get my car off the road before someone drives along the road and smashes into the back of my car. I make an assessment and think the car is fine, the engine is still running…I hadn’t even stalled the engine – consciously thinking take the car out of gear and release the clutch. It’s just the wingmirror that has come off, that must have been the noise, everything looks good, the airbag didn’t even deploy, it can’t be that bad. The person that stopped has appeared at my window, “Are you ok?” I replied with “Yes, just really shaken, I need to get the car off the road” “You can’t” he said, “I am fine to drive, let me just pull to the roadside so traffic can get through” “No, you can’t”. At this point I was thinking, I am very capable of driving the car 6 foot, I am a bit shaken but I have to move the car. “You can’t move the car because you don’t have a wheel to be able to move the car”…that was it…”Stay there, its’s warm, you’re safe, I’ll phone the police.” I closed the window on the car and burst into tears.

Shaking I phone my mum – no answer. So, I phone my friend at BNI and casual say “I am really sorry, I can’t make the meeting, someone has driven in to my car, are you ok to run the meeting, I don’t think I can get there in time” still thinking I would try and get to the meeting – Who was I kidding! Mum phones back and I explain what has happened, she’s on her way.

There is something which I haven’t told you or many about that day, about 3 days before I was driving to Buckingham to see my Dad. I had this feeling that I needed to get the tyre pressures checked and I knew the car needed new tyres, it was approaching winter, and the tyres were worn, I couldn’t keep driving around, I had to do it now! So, I phoned and booked the car in for 4 new tyres the next morning, they were in stock and ready to go – perfect! But I had a feeling that I shouldn’t be driving far until this had been done. Someone told me that day that I had to change the tyres (because they were illegal and the insurance might not have paid out if the car was not road legal), because I knew something was going to happen in the car. I knew that morning when I got into the car that it was going to happen which is why I chose to drive along the back road to Northampton and not my usually route along the motorway. I also drove slowly, not just because of the weather, but because instinctively I knew I had to be able to stop. That day was supposed to happen. The car was a write off, as was the lunatic who was overtaking the other vehicle – 100 yards down the road where he had lost the rear wheel of his car and was in a ditch. But I walked away, with a bit of whiplash. This accident was a wake-up call sent to me. A dodgem car ricocheting me back into life and feeding me my own words; life is for living so make sure you enjoy what you do and enjoy life, it’s far too short!