"the glossy excitement of receiving that job offer soon wore off..."

Sitting on a swivel chair was my rock bottom. It was grey, I was dressed in grey, and I felt grey. A large part of my job was literally ticking boxes (on forms to open up new accounts) and it felt like I was doing that with my life too. The highlight of each day was ticking off the one before as ‘done’ on my desk calendar with a green highlighter. We don’t have an equivalent term for ‘corporate America’ in England, but – whatever that term would be – this was it.

 

I had worked so hard to get here, on an investment banking graduate scheme, but the glossy excitement of receiving that job offer soon wore off after about 6 months. It felt like I was in completely the wrong place, even though I was still so unsure what the “right” place was meant to be. I was going through a myriad of tests and treatments with the NHS to try and solve the symptoms of what turned out to be Generalised Anxiety Disorder. It was no coincidence that this anxiety disorder had appeared in the last few years. 

 

Freedom has always been my number 1 value, so it’s just unfortunate that I didn’t realise that until years later when I had entered the personal development world and started doing ‘the work’. This is why one of the first things I do with my clients, and as an exercise in my book, is a priority list of values in order of their importance. How in tune our life is with these values will determine how happy and satisfied we are – or how sad and frustrated we are. 

 

Feeling like a bird with clipped wings every day is the worst case scenario for someone whose number 1 value is freedom. It’s a non-negotiable to be autonomous, unrestrained and in control. That’s the funny thing about having freedom as a closely held value – what it really means is that we get to enjoy having full control, and isn’t control the opposite of freedom? 

 

I had to find a new way of doing things - my way of doing things - and it was the 10 year journey to here, today, that inspired my first book. The book that would eventually get picked up to be published by Hay House, Living in Tune. Having broken free from the mainstream world and made my own way as a mentor for coaches and healers who have a spiritual purpose, I know it’s possible and that on the other side of restriction there’s an open-wide reality that we get to define for ourselves. 

 

For me, that means making more money every month than I ever did in a job from the sofa, under a blanket, in my cosy dressing gown. “Do you ever wear anything but your dressing gown?”, my husband said to me the other day. No, dear. I do not. And I like it that way. No more getting dressed into grey suit skirts, hiding my tattoos and piercings, or painting myself into the background of society. I feel like the freedom lifestyle has been a regression of sorts back to my style as a teenager: grungy and free – just how I like to be. 

 

All I need is a laptop now, with one vital ingredient: good wifi *laughing sweating emoji*. As it turns out, there are many places in the world that don’t have good wifi and I don’t recommend going to them as an entrepreneur. I’ve been thrown off group coaching calls I was leading (that people had paid to be on) into an internet black hole, unable to even reach anyone and say what had happened because the electricity had gone for the whole area. Travelling full-time for 1.5 years and living out my original vision of the freedom lifestyle dream was amazing, but it’s for reasons like these that I’m also glad it’s behind me! 

 

The external things we think are freedom often aren’t in the end. It’s freedom from what we don’t want to do, who we don’t want to be, and how we don’t want to spend our time. It’s having a choice rather than feeling chained. It’s moving or being still on your own terms. I think the more connected with our soul we are, the more we long to feel free – because our soul knows how to live without limits, and on some level, so do we. 

 

If you’re inspired by Liz’s story and would like to become a certified Spiritual Coach, Liz’s successful group coaching program is now open for enrollment until 02 Sept 2023 - find out more!

Or to experience one of her transformative online courses visit here.