Sitting in the bath crying, I was at the end of my tether. The trigger point was the new puppy that had joined our family. Having grown up around dogs, he was unlike anything I had ever experienced. This puppy never seemed to stop. We always had female dogs so this male with his high energy and super intelligence very quickly used up all my knowledge of dog training and that of everyone else I knew.
The events leading up to this moment had been challenging. After struggling as a freelance designer, I moved into wedding photography. The business had been growing steadily when my nan died very suddenly after a short illness. She had been the glue that held us together and we were devastated. My grandad and mum leaned on me for support and I channelled my energies into my work – so far, so good.
The death knell for my photography career was the day I had a panic attack at a wedding. I was two hours from home, alone in the middle of a field with no phone signal. I have no idea how I finished the day, but I knew I could not continue so I quietly finished my remaining bookings and returned to design work.
Those events all took their toll, culminating in me sitting in the bath one night crying over an overstimulated puppy that would not settle down. In desperation I looked up and said to the universe, “please help me!”
The next day, the puppy was a little bit calmer, life was a little brighter. Every day, I saw a small improvement. I remember thinking to myself that maybe there was something else, listening to me, helping me. I searched online for someone that could help me make sense of what was happening and found a spiritual group run by a numerologist. Shortly after joining, she ran a competition to win a business guidance call with her and in that moment, I knew I would win.
A week later, I found myself on the call and we struck up a wonderful working relationship as I created her social media graphics. One day, she called me and asked if I could design her book not knowing I had worked as a book designer in the past. It felt like fate and I suddenly felt the penny drop. Stories had always been my passion. My dream had always been to run my own publishing house and write books. This time nothing was stopping me except my own confidence. I took a deep breath and decided to follow my dream, setting up my own hybrid publishing house. I did not have industry connections or start-up capital. What I did have was an inner knowing that it was the right path for me.
Two years later, I am still growing my dream business and all it took was a few shifts from the universe, a crazy puppy and following my intuition to get me there.
