Warning – Oscar Speech……….

Five years ago I resigned from my very safe government job to pursue my dream of inspiring, encouraging and empowering women who were facing adversity to discover and share their own good news

It has been an emotional roller coaster and at times I have been so busy following my passion that I forgot to discover and share my own good news. This time last year I was in a wheelchair, my health deteriorating and I ended up on a high potency regime of drugs again, this led me to not being able to be as active as I wanted to and my health and emotional health suffered. The irony being that I had lost my own sense of self and self belief. This year despite being a trainer in the NZ fitness industry, I went backwards, I had to start again and do what I knew worked for me.  It was a holistic approach to ensure I could discover and share my own good news again. Thank you to Broni Mcsweeney who is the brain child behind the Catch Fitness 20 Week Body & Lifestyle Competition​. I set some BHAG that seemed scary and impossible in April. I committed to myself and ultimately have won the most wonderful gift. I have completed all I set out to do. I can now walk around the block 7 minutes faster without crutches, I can look in the mirror and am proud of who I am. I have a purpose and am excited about what the next five years will bring. My specialist team have said that I don’t need back surgery in the foreseeable future as I am positively managing my pain. There are many small steps that have led me to feeling amazing today! A huge thanks to Lilly and Lou for all your support and encouragement. Huge hugs and smiles to all my beautiful LeapStars for believing in me, on my tough days you all kept me going. Thank you to my beautiful family and friends who propped me up especially in the tough days this past few winters. And as always to my beautiful soul mate Riwai who without I wouldn’t be the woman I am today. And finally to the woman behind the camera, who flew from Australia and captured who I really am, and let me see what others see, Annie Murray – www.murraystudios.com.au/    you are an earth angel, and with your work I finally have true self-love and self belief. Cx