By Amanda Peros
At the age of 16, I became involved in a relationship which proved to be detrimental to my life path.
Too young to realise this, the years passed until my early 20s when I started to become increasingly restless. I would spend hours staring out the window, feeling trapped and excluded. My life was full of violence and turmoil and seemed to be getting worse as time passed. I had become complacent and adopted a 'poor me' attitude. All the goals I had as an ambitious teenager – I started careers in hairdressing, pre-school teaching, real estate and tried my hand at various other careers – all left me feeling unfulfilled.
It wasn't until I reconnected with a very wise friend of mine who told me a few home truths, that I realised my destiny was my own making. It was a hard lesson to learn and it took me a long time to figure out how to turn this bit of wisdom into a plan of action.
As fate would have it, my stepfather offered me some casual administration work. I accepted the position, unaware that I was about to take on a role that would lead me to turn everything in my life around.
The day I started I was overwhelmed at meeting so many ambitious successful people, many younger than myself. I soon found my feet and everyday became more positive than the day before; I had a job I enjoyed, I felt validated and I was given control over my area of work. I began to feel as though I was a part of something.
The news that I had Stage 3 Cervical Cancer shattered me. I felt that as soon as I had some positivity back in my life, the rug was pulled out from beneath me again. I fell into serious depression and wasn't able to pick myself back up.
Those few months were a blur. Between doctor appointments and the turmoil at home, I put all my focus into work and for those eight hours twice a week could pretend I knew what I wanted out of life and most importantly… how to get it.
Another friend taught me to meditate and quiet my mind;
I found this quickly became part of the day I would most look forward to. I will never forget the day the realisation came that I had only just begun my journey in life and that everything I was going through would give me the strength I needed to keep going. Instead of despair and angst I felt hopeful and excited at the prospects that lay ahead of me.
I had treatment for the cancer, which was successful and after a short recovery was back feeling fine. This meant I could pour all my energy into the next stage of my life makeover.
I was introduced to a woman who was looking for a personal assistant to help her with her extremely successful branding company.
I was so overwhelmed and in awe of her when I met her. She was confident, strong, intelligent and focused.
Everything I aspired to be. However, I let fear get in the way again: fear that I would let her down, fear that I would not be good enough and would never be able to measure up to her standards. This combined with my tumultuous home life and lack of support there, meant I felt I had no choice but to decline the position.
Someone once told me that soul mates are not people who you have everything in common with, they are people who come into your life to inspire or impact your life in some way. This woman was the first of many for me.
Willing to change but not really sure where to go from there, her advice and direction as well as the support of my amazing friends led me to leave my husband and start out on my own for the first time in my life. I was excited, scared, hopeful and devastated all at once.
Now I am a 24 year old 'single' mum of a gorgeous two year old son, trying to juggle making a career for myself as well as motherhood. At first, things seemed to get worse, it was all so hard and even though I had little support at home before, I now had none. Trying to deal with a messy separation and keep everything going was incredibly hard.
It wasn't long before things settled and everyday I would be more and more inspired by the people around me. I was amazed at how willing people were to share their wisdom and at the lengths they would go to help me find my path.
These people are amazing entrepreneurs, running businesses as well as teaching others how to build a successful company. They are the most dedicated and intelligent people and I found the more I surrounded myself with them the more their attitudes seemed to rub off on me.
I was soon thinking in the way they did, knowing I could achieve whatever I put my mind to and that nothing was impossible. I had as much potential as the next person.
One year on I am now a Business Development / Subscription Manager working four days a week. I wake up every morning excited and anxious to see what the day brings and what I can do today to bring me one step closer to achieving everything I ever dreamed of.
I will be forever grateful for those seeing the potential in me, even when I could not see it myself. So you see, sometimes it really can be a case of who you know and that with the right attitude nothing is impossible...nothing.
It is always easier to stay in something that is not working, however making the change to where you want to be is the part that takes courage. No matter what your situation may be and despite any or all the people in your life who tell you can't, you should know that you can.
You just need to have the right mindset and thinkBIG!
