My 20s and what I see as my 'adult life' started in Vienna, Austria. I left home at 18 to live in Israel for a year, and then moved to Vienna until I was 23. Although this was all very exciting - I was going through the start of the biggest transition that I had been through, so far, in a place where I didn’t have my family or anyone I knew and it wasn’t easy!

I was fortunate enough to find an incredible family to work for as a nanny. Through that job I ended up being surrounded by supportive adults who taught me a lot, and who I’m friends with to this day. However, there’s no denying how difficult I found being away from home and how unwell I ended up being. Physically I lost a lot of weight, and mentally I was a complete mess. 

I was riddled with guilt and confusion as I had everything I had dreamed of when I first got on that one-way flight to Israel at 18. I had my own flat, a lovely boyfriend, a great job and a ridiculously cute dog. The fact that all these things weren’t making me happy was bizarre.

Most people I went to school with were at university getting a degree - something that was generally considered more useful/practical than what I was doing. At the time I felt like I wasn’t doing much at all, and I started to think maybe all my teachers were right and I should have copied my classmates and gone to uni.

I decided to start doing something to help myself move out of the funk. A big part of this started with deleting all my social media. Instagram was the first to go, and honestly that helped massively.

I started Open University, put more effort into learning German and threw myself into Viennese culture and life in the capital. 

Taking these steps to push myself towards feeling happier helped but only temporarily. Three years later I decided it was time to go back home. Initially, I really didn’t want to leave as it felt like a total failure to go back to England. It took me about 3 more years, and a lot of coaching and support from family and friends to finally be grateful for the experience that those years gave me. I grew so much, became more disciplined and saw the value in pushing myself out of my comfort zone.  

Rather than feeling like I wasted those years and that I didn’t make the most out of the experience, or sad that I didn’t travel as much as I could have - I used the support given to me to help me understand that even though the plan I made for myself at the young age of 16 didn’t turn out how I had imagined, I was not a failure.

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I was a completely different person at 19 (let alone 16!) and then again, by the time I was 23 there had been so many shifts and changes within me. The plans and dreams I made at that age didn’t work out because I'd grown so much and wanted things from life that I didn’t even consider possible a few years before.

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Once I was home I started studying different things. I had always wanted to be a florist and had gained a love of gardening in Israel so I did Horticulture and Floristry. I soon realised those weren’t the industries that I wanted to be in and I missed the element of working with people. Eventually, I started to think about Horticultural Therapy so I completed a Social and Therapeutic Horticulture course, a few courses on Mental Health and finally found the Animas Transformational Coaching Diploma. All of this has led me here!

 I am now 27 and still very much going through my own transformational years. I do know however, that for now, I would love to use everything that I have learnt from my experience and studies to help other people through whatever transition it is that they are facing.