How I went from the golden girl of corporate to a woman awakened

In 2004 I was that high energy, high output person who absolutely loved my career and lived for what I did. My passion drove me, my decisions and energy, and my over-the-top successes earned me the nickname ‘the girl with the Midas Touch’.

I had an uncanny ability to naturally create consistent extraordinary results with ease and reliable flow. I didn’t know how I was doing it at the time. I just did what felt natural and worked for me.

Then the fire began to burn out…

With the ability to make magic happen easily also came opportunities to advance very rapidly. At 31 years old I was running the Asia Pacific division of a global energy company.

At 32, I was struggling to keep up with the unrealistic expectations placed on me in that role, and the pressure I was putting on myself to keep achieving at such extraordinary levels.

The magic had changed, the dynamic was gone, the gold was becoming harder to mine

As I pushed myself to my limits, the stress began to show. I developed an irregular heartbeat, I had painful endometriosis and cysts, I couldn’t sleep at night and felt constantly unable to cope.

I drank to relax, I’d drive around the block before pulling into work and cry in the elevator going up to my floor. I was on antidepressants and into weekly counselling for support.

I kept pushing forward but the more I did, the further I left myself behind.

For someone who looked like she had it all, I’d never felt so empty and dead in my whole life.

My body was giving me all the signs that how I was working was not working. And I knew something in me was dying.

Every counselling session was the same. Repeating the same stories I’d been spinning for years. Nothing changing, no matter how much I talked about it or tried to mind-map my way out of it.

I was giving up hope. I knew this wasn’t helping me and began to believe that this was just how my life was going to be. I simply figured I had got to the point of no return.

And then one day, I was pulled out of myself.

I was literally out of my body, up against the wall, looking at the person who was sitting in the chair, speaking to the counsellor.

Standing there as the observer, I knew this is who I AM

In what I describe as an incredible moment of awakening, I knew this was me in my pure essence. From that place of pure thought, I saw myself sitting in that chair. I saw how I was thinking, I heard what I said, I saw everything with a clarity and knowing I’d never known before.

I saw the limitations controlling my experience of reality.

And in my essence, I knew:

“This is the core of who I AM and this is the clarity that has the power to change anything.”

I don’t know how long that experience lasted - it felt like minutes - it could have been seconds, but when I returned to myself, I stood up mid-session, thanked the counsellor for her support, cancelled all future appointments, and went back to the office to start the process of leaving my job.

I had gotten a glimpse of my gifts and how I needed to use them, but the path from finding my purpose to seeing it payoff was far from smooth.

I shook off the limits of my corporate career, but self-development came with its own set of challenges

As I dove into the world of personal development, I encountered mentor after mentor who told me I had to change myself in order to be ‘spiritual’.

....who took my money only to tell me that I had to let go of enjoying money and wanting success.

These teachers wanted me to make them my gurus.

....to subordinate myself to their definition of who you need to be to be a spiritual worker, to offer healing or do energy work.

I started to realize, “Oh my God, I’ve just swapped an ego with a spiritual ego, a work identity with a spiritual identity.”

And by taking on that spiritual identity, I had gone to the other extreme.

Instead of do-do-do, now I was just supposed to... be. I was given messages like, “And now raise your vibration, sit back and manifest what you want”. But that wasn’t working or satisfying my soul either.

And that’s when I decided a different approach was needed.

Bringing It All Together

I put my stake in the ground and took a stand against beliefs that encouraged you to sit cross-legged and meditate your dreams into reality…

And against the scarcity and lack mentalities that kept you attached to traditional markers of success.

In my past experience, corporate was all about the doing and spiritual was all about the being.

The problem is, you can’t bypass doing the work of making your dreams come true.

But when you bring doing and being together... you can do the work with EASE and SPEED.

This combination of doing from your being, is at the heart of all my work.

I teach people how to go beyond where they’ve learned to stop, and how to access in themselves that ESSENCE, that core that I tapped into all those years ago.

Find out how we can work together

Who am I when I’m not doing this work?

Here’s a glimpse into Michelle, the Mum, Mermaid and Music-Lover

I have a song for everything. I sing a lot and have music in my Soul. I’ve been known to sing on calls with clients.

I’m a Sagittarius, a big fire sign, very playful and high energy.

The beach is my home - and the one I love here in New Zealand the most is Piha. Piha is NZ’s most notorious, dangerous and unpredictably wild beach. To me it’s wild and free, and my happy place.

I think I’m a mermaid when I swim — or that I’m inside a washing machine when I’m getting pummelled by the waves at Piha (see Pt 3.)

I love jumping out of planes, flying in planes, travelling and exploring.

I am a serial learner and student of life. I’ve tried reading for ‘pleasure’, but to me,

LEARNING is the ultimate indulgence.

I have a passion for end of life support. I believe it’s a huge privilege to help someone transition from this life to the next. The greatest lesson I’ve learned from this work is how important it is to LIVE life while you have it.

I am a proud mama of two teenage boys. Motherhood is the best decision I ever

made and these two boys are the best things that have ever come into my life.

I don’t wear a lot of colour, but my toenails will always reflect the mood I’m in.

Women changing their world

Cheryl

Author
France

“Michelle has been my go-to person for all aspects of emotional and spiritual health for many years now. I love that she keeps evolving and is always relevant, real and grounded, and I always leave her sessions with a powerful and lasting sense of wellbeing. She is uniquely herself and helps me be uniquely me, happy and comfortable in my skin. Quite simply, I love this woman!"

Julie-Anne

Motherhood Journey Coach
Ireland

“It is so obvious that Michelle has done her own work; it shines through the work she teaches and how I’m now living and being to create a more authentic me.”

Jessica

Soul Coach
Sweden

“What I loved about the coaching was that we started from the core of how I felt and worked from there very deeply. Michelle has a very deep intuitive connective ability so she guides from a very pure place of unconditional love, and from that place transformation happens.”

In case you haven’t gotten my vibe yet,

I’m NOT your typical Coach

My transformational teaching combines grounded, practical, action-oriented advice with deep enquiry and an advanced knowledge of energetic principles.

When you’re no longer willing to risk letting your talents go untapped, or having your dream burn a hole inside you…

I’m the one you work with to get clear on the vision your body is begging you to realize… and exactly which steps you need to take.

You ARE enough – as you are – and in the flick of a switch, you can give yourself permission to experience something more than the world as you know it today.

Find out how we can work together