This story is a long one, but an important one.

I was born premature (I weighed as much as a bag of sugar) and my mum’s complicated pregnancy meant that I came into this world with a disability called Spina Bifida. The odds were stacked against me, with even the doctors recommending to my parents that they give me away (the 60s hey?!).

I was born with a label - disabled - but also as a fighter and survivor. My fighter-survivor instincts have served me so well as life has been, well, a bit of a rollercoaster.

For the first 50 years of my life, I never accepted nor wanted my disability. I hated it. It affected my happiness, my self-esteem and my confidence. My biggest fear was that I would end up in a wheelchair and my disability would be visible for everyone to see.

At 37, my life was turned upside down. The ligament in my knee snapped unexpectedly one morning and my biggest fear came true. I was wheelchair-bound.

All I could think about was my children and I didn’t want them to be upset. I taught myself to cry without making any noise. I suffered in complete silence.

But my fighter-survivor mode kicked in - I stopped feeling sorry for myself and got on with life. I went back to work with a wheelchair and crutches in tow, paying no attention at all to my mental health.

The years passed, and I continued to suffer silently. The trigger point came when I turned 50 and I had a complete mental breakdown. My inner turmoil had become so strong, I hated my disability so much - I was a prisoner in my own body.

Luckily, my mental breakdown was the best thing that could have happened to me. This is when I started to really meditate. I had played around with meditation before but, I knew that I wanted to get better, and so I carried on. 

I didn’t really know what I was doing but I just kept meditating every day. I saw the results so quickly. Even just tuning into my breath made everything seem better. Over time, meditation helped me see that this disability was mine. I needed to start loving it and start accepting it.

That was when my life changed: I started to accept, love and allow all these things to be part of me and I started to undergo a huge change in my life which involved inner peace and calm.

Everything happens for a reason and this was part of my life journey - some amazing chapters to my book of life.