0:09

Welcome to the Pivot Point stories

0:11

of courage , resilience and reinvention

0:14

. I'm your host , jessica McGahn

0:16

, coach , producer and creative , whose

0:18

mission is to normalize the human experience

0:21

, ignite the soul and move

0:23

you from feeling limited to limitless

0:25

. Please connect

0:27

us , and my hope is that within

0:29

this series , you will find at least

0:31

one story that resonates with you on

0:33

a deeply personal level , one

0:36

that speaks to your soul or your current

0:38

situation , that will motivate you

0:40

to keep moving forward , inspire

0:43

you to make bold , brave choices in your own life

0:45

and help you feel less

0:47

alone in the process . In today's

0:49

episode , I speak with Sydney Lowe

0:51

, who once upon a time felt

0:53

like life was moving far too

0:55

quickly , progressing at a pace

0:58

that wasn't necessarily hers . She

1:00

feels this speed so deeply that

1:02

one day she actually writes in her journal

1:05

slow down

1:07

. And the very next day she's

1:10

struck by a vehicle . In

1:12

this conversation , we talk about how

1:14

fate may have acted in her favor

1:16

that day , how the crash affected

1:19

her physical and mental well-being , and

1:21

the skills , tools and support that

1:23

allowed her to heal and move forward

1:26

at a pace that feels good for

1:28

her . Today , sydney

1:30

is a Reiki practitioner , soon-to-be

1:32

counselor and founder of Earth

1:35

and Ether Wellness . She has

1:37

a wild story and a world of insight

1:39

to share with you . So , without further

1:41

ado , let's dive in Sydney

1:49

. I am so excited to have

1:51

you on the PivotPoint podcast today

1:54

For those listening . Sydney

1:56

is not only a guest today

1:58

, but she's also a friend of mine and we met

2:00

when we were in the same cohort

2:02

at Rhodes Wellness College . I

2:05

went for my life coaching diploma

2:07

and Sydney did her full counseling

2:09

certification , so she's got a world

2:11

of knowledge to share with us , not only from her training

2:14

but also from her life experience

2:16

. So I'm so excited to have you here .

2:19

Thank you so much , jess . I'm super

2:21

excited to be here too . It's really good to see you

2:23

and connect with you again , totally

2:25

.

2:26

Now , this podcast explores pivotal

2:28

moments in people's lives . Some are choices

2:31

. There are these aha moments where you're like you

2:33

know what , I can't keep going down this road

2:35

, I need to change something . And some

2:37

, like yours , are

2:39

acts of fate , things that

2:41

happen to us that are completely

2:44

out of control , out of our

2:46

control , and that we need to then

2:48

navigate ourselves through . And I believe that's

2:50

kind of what we're exploring here with your

2:52

story today , correct ?

2:54

Yeah , yeah , absolutely

2:56

yeah , definitely definitely

2:58

an octave .

3:01

So , before we get into the

3:03

accident that catapulted

3:05

this change for you , can you paint me a little bit

3:08

of a picture of who you were

3:10

, how you existed in this world , what life

3:12

felt like for you before

3:14

your accident ?

3:17

Well before the accident

3:19

I had just started school

3:22

at Rhodes Wellness College . I think we were like

3:24

two and

3:26

a half months into the first semester , maybe

3:28

three months .

3:29

Is that early into our semester ? Wow

3:32

?

3:33

Very early into the semester and

3:35

, yeah

3:37

, I was working in a grocery store

3:39

. I kind of didn't really know what I was doing with

3:42

my life , but I was having fun . I

3:44

had just started a relationship

3:46

with my current partner , I

3:49

was living with my best friend and , you

3:54

know , life was moving very quickly

3:56

for me . There was a lot of very high

3:59

speed , rapid growth , especially in that

4:01

coaching class where

4:03

everything was just kind of , you

4:05

know , doing the self work was our

4:08

learning in that time . So I

4:11

remember having

4:13

a lot of self awareness , a

4:16

lot of growth happening , and

4:18

I also remember being a little bit overwhelmed

4:20

with how fast my life

4:22

was moving in a direction that I

4:24

wasn't even really clear on

4:26

yet . So

4:29

, yeah , that's kind

4:31

of where I was at the accident .

4:34

That's so interesting that you had this

4:36

sense of moving too quickly

4:38

, because I think

4:40

what we're going to learn is how this accident

4:42

made you slow down . So having that

4:45

knowledge dropped

4:48

in as a little hint as to where we're going

4:50

is so fascinating how

4:52

life kind of happens for us sometimes

4:54

. So

4:57

what happened ? What Tell

4:59

me about the day of your accident ?

5:03

So the day of my accident

5:05

I was okay

5:09

, I'm gonna write a little bit before

5:11

. Sorry , not write a little bit before . I'll tell

5:13

you a little bit before the accident something

5:15

that I was writing . I was feeling very

5:17

overwhelmed in that week . I was

5:20

kind of struggling a little bit with just like feeling

5:22

calm and three

5:24

times that week I wrote in my journal

5:27

I just want to slow down , help

5:29

me slow down , I need to slow down . Over

5:32

and over and over again and it just kind of kept

5:34

coming back to that .

5:36

Wait , wait , wait . You're telling me that you were literally

5:38

writing in your journal I

5:40

need to slow down . Slow down , sidney

5:42

, like we . Please help me slow down . You're

5:45

like begging the universe . To slow you down , begging

5:49

begging the universe

5:51

.

5:51

I have the journal , and

5:53

so this is the page . This

5:56

is what I wrote . It says slow

5:58

, slower , slower , slow down

6:01

. And then the next day after

6:03

I got home from the hospital after getting

6:05

hit by a car , I

6:09

just got hit by an F in car .

6:14

So wait , let me get this straight . You wrote

6:16

that in your journal the next day

6:18

. You got in a car accident and went home and wrote

6:20

I just got hit by a fucking car .

6:22

Wow , so yeah

6:25

, so I wrote that in my journal on a Saturday

6:27

. On a Sunday it was very stormy , like

6:30

I don't know if you remember seeing on the news

6:32

that , like EC , was flooding a couple

6:34

years ago . It was a really crazy

6:37

storm and I was walking home from work

6:40

and somebody just

6:42

they were turning right and they just didn't see me crossing

6:44

the road and I didn't see them coming

6:47

. And , yeah

6:50

, they just hit me with their car

6:52

and I was unconscious for

6:54

a few seconds on the ground and

6:56

woke up just

6:59

in the most pain I've ever

7:01

, ever experienced

7:03

. And a few

7:05

seconds later there was people all around

7:07

me , somebody was holding my neck and ambulances

7:10

came and they took me to the hospital

7:13

and yeah

7:15

, and that was that Were

7:17

you alone .

7:18

Did they stop and help ? Do

7:21

you remember the people who came to your aid ?

7:25

No , I don't remember the people who came

7:27

to my aid . I was in shock , like I was

7:29

totally full

7:32

shock , and they

7:35

did stop . It was a guy , he was young

7:37

, he was probably in his

7:39

like mid 20s , just a thing . He only looks like a couple

7:41

of years older than me at the time and but

7:44

I don't know his like , I don't know who he is , I

7:47

don't remember what he looks like or anything . But

7:49

yeah

7:51

, he stopped . He stayed with me the whole time . A

7:54

few other cars stopped . It was on a pretty main

7:57

intersection , so a few other cars stopped

7:59

. I had someone call

8:01

my mom like immediately , so

8:03

she came with me and followed

8:06

the ambulance to the hospital and was with me

8:08

the whole time . And yeah

8:10

, wow .

8:12

What were your injuries and how long did you have to

8:14

be in the hospital for ?

8:17

I was only in the hospital for a few hours actually

8:19

. My injuries I kind of flipped

8:21

over the front foot of the car

8:23

and went face first into the ground

8:28

so I had very bad road rash

8:30

. My ear was

8:32

split open on the top

8:34

and they had to like sew

8:37

it back up , which was so

8:39

strange to experience . I

8:43

can't believe that

8:45

I had no injuries to my legs

8:47

where the car hit me . I just had a

8:49

bruise . No broken

8:52

bones , no

8:54

broken anything . Had a very severe concussion

8:56

. I didn't know how severe it was at the time . It

8:58

kind of that just exposed

9:01

itself over the coming months

9:03

. Yeah

9:06

, but no broken bones . There were so many small

9:08

details about how it happened

9:11

that I truly believe saved my life

9:13

, because if he

9:15

had honked and I looked

9:18

, I would have maybe gone like

9:20

front of my face first rather than side

9:22

of my head . I had my glasses on

9:24

top of my head and I'm pretty sure that's what cut my

9:26

ear , but if they were on my face

9:28

maybe my ear would have been removed

9:31

. And so many little

9:34

details that changed

9:37

everything about

9:39

how it happened .

9:42

How did the accident affect

9:45

you mentally and emotionally ?

9:49

In the moment have it happened ?

9:51

Yeah , or this has

9:53

happened . I can imagine you're immediately

9:55

sent into some sort of dysregulated

9:58

state . I assume

10:00

in that moment or maybe you had an overwhelming sense

10:02

of calm . But then coming

10:04

out of stepping out of that hospital

10:07

or even in that hospital , what were those

10:09

initial first couple of days like

10:11

emotionally and mentally after this accident

10:14

?

10:14

Yeah , well , right when the accident happened , I

10:16

was in go mode . I was like you call

10:19

my mom , you call 911

10:21

, somebody get my mom on the phone

10:23

right now , tell her exactly where we are . I

10:27

was in go mode . And then , as soon as we got

10:29

into the ambulance and my mom

10:31

came into the ambulance , that was when I just totally

10:34

lost it and started having

10:36

a panic attack , I think . I had a panic attack

10:38

the whole way to the hospital until

10:40

I was there and they were like I need you

10:42

to calm down because we need to work on

10:45

you so that you don't bleed

10:47

out of your ear for anymore . And so I

10:50

calmed myself down . And

10:53

, yeah , the next few

10:55

days after that were very

10:58

confusing , very

11:00

confusing and overwhelming . I

11:02

felt hopeful

11:05

. I felt like

11:08

, oh , this is just . I didn't really know what

11:10

a concussion was . All I understood

11:12

was like I'd

11:14

seen people that play sports like hit their head

11:16

and spend a week in the dark and then they're

11:19

fine and back to their

11:21

life and back to their duties and whatnot

11:23

. And so I was

11:25

kind of anticipating that . I called my boss , I

11:27

said , hey , I'm going to need the rest of the week off work

11:29

, and not

11:31

knowing that this

11:33

was just the beginning and

11:36

that things were going to get worse . And

11:40

so the first few days I felt okay . My

11:43

partner came and he stayed

11:45

with me . I wasn't able to really do anything

11:47

, I couldn't really take care of myself . So

11:49

he came , helped

11:52

me bathe , helped me cook

11:55

, cleaned up the house for me , meal prepped

11:57

for me for when he was going to be at work , like

11:59

he really took care of me in that time and so

12:01

grateful for that . And having that support made me

12:03

feel okay . I think

12:06

it was when things

12:08

started to get

12:10

worse for me , physically

12:12

and cognitively

12:14

, that I really started

12:17

to struggle with the emotional side

12:19

of things .

12:22

Firstly , we love a supportive partner

12:24

. I love that you had him

12:26

to help support you in the moment . The

12:28

right support can make a world of a difference and

12:31

it sounds like your partner really showed up for you . I

12:34

also love that , no matter how old we get , we always

12:36

want our moms . When something bad goes wrong , like

12:39

no matter what . I'm 33 years old

12:41

. If shit's hitting the fan in my life , someone

12:43

call my mom or I will call my

12:45

mom . They're just our superheroes . Really

12:48

, can you help

12:50

us understand ? Because

12:52

what I'm hearing is that the accident really

12:54

left you almost unscathed . We

12:56

hear that there's a concussion , we

12:59

hear that your ear is damaged , but

13:01

what I'm also hearing is that you really struggled

13:03

to do things for yourself . Afterwards you

13:05

had to have help . You were saying bathe

13:08

and cook and clean . So what

13:10

was that about ? What was preventing

13:12

you from being able to do

13:14

those things ?

13:18

Yeah , there was a lot of really intense

13:20

symptoms that came with it

13:22

. I had very bad vertigo

13:24

, so I would get

13:26

very dizzy , even laying down , like I would

13:29

be laying down and the

13:31

room would just be spinning

13:33

around me . So it kind

13:35

of was it's my nightmare . Yeah , it

13:37

was horrible . I'd never had anything

13:39

like that before . I felt totally

13:41

out of control of myself . I

13:43

also just I

13:45

had no idea what was going on . Like I

13:47

was so confused , so

13:50

confused , so overwhelmed . The

13:52

thought of dressing myself

13:55

in the morning was like

13:57

a concept that I could not comprehend

13:59

. It just I don't even

14:01

know how to explain that . It

14:04

was crazy how

14:07

what was so

14:09

normal and so routine

14:11

was suddenly the biggest

14:13

challenge that I had ever

14:15

experienced . And I was also about to

14:17

move . So I also

14:20

had to pack and do all this stuff . And

14:23

I remember I would just like write

14:25

lists . I would write lists of

14:27

all the things that I had to do and then I would do one

14:30

thing . But as soon as I crossed something off the list

14:32

, it felt stressful to look at . So I

14:34

would have to rewrite the list and I was

14:36

not ever able to really get anything done

14:38

. So , again , my partner and my mom helped

14:42

me with that . And other things too

14:44

, like I was sleeping like 14 hours a day

14:46

. Lights were

14:48

horrible . I don't know if you remember

14:51

, but in class I was always wearing sunglasses

14:53

because I couldn't look at the screen

14:55

. I also had my camera

14:57

off a lot of the time and most

15:00

of that time I was sleeping , to be totally

15:02

honest , because I couldn't keep myself awake

15:04

.

15:06

I do remember the sunglasses and I do remember

15:08

you not being around

15:10

Like I know . You had to go back and do redo

15:13

some of those courses and stuff because suddenly

15:15

you were just unable to be

15:18

there as much as you used to . Or even

15:21

when we had tests , I remember you

15:23

could only do like half of the time and then you would

15:25

do the other half later because you just needed

15:27

more space and time and you

15:29

were in this process of healing

15:32

. When you talk about the

15:34

vertigo and the inlay

15:37

ability to even perform small

15:40

tasks for yourself is that a symptom from the

15:42

concussion or

15:44

is that a symptom of trauma ?

15:48

I think at the time it was mostly

15:50

a symptom of the concussion

15:52

. Just yeah

15:55

, it was definitely a symptom of the concussion

15:58

. I think as time went on , my

16:01

symptoms just weren't getting

16:04

better and

16:06

I really wanted them to and really needed

16:08

them to , and

16:10

you know , they would get a little bit better

16:13

here and there . But I think after

16:15

a certain point it was , you

16:18

know , the impact of the trauma that

16:21

started to really affect

16:23

my daily life . My motivation

16:25

, my sense of hope , my sense

16:27

of purpose , like all of those things

16:30

just became

16:32

lost from me because

16:34

I needed to get better and I wasn't so

16:38

Is it fair

16:40

to say that this was

16:42

kind of a dark time

16:44

in your ? life Totally

16:47

. Yes , it was a very dark

16:49

time . I remember struggling

16:51

with my mental health a lot

16:53

. I still struggle a little bit today

16:56

too , but Don't we all ? Yes

16:58

, but

17:00

yeah , I struggled a lot with my mental health

17:02

and that's when I had to take a break from

17:05

school and , you

17:07

know , skip out on a couple of the courses

17:10

that we had to do in that second

17:12

semester . And

17:15

I , yeah , I got to the point where

17:17

I was having such severe

17:20

intrusive thoughts , such severe

17:22

PTSD nightmares and

17:25

, you know , suicidal

17:27

thoughts even too , and I knew

17:29

I didn't want to die because I was in a

17:31

near death experience and I was grateful

17:34

for my life . But what was going

17:36

on in my brain just

17:38

was not matching the experience

17:41

that I wanted to be having and

17:43

that I felt like I could have . So

17:45

it drove me a little crazy and I took myself

17:47

to the hospital and I

17:50

said , you know , I

17:52

can't handle these thoughts and

17:54

they didn't really do a whole lot for me . They were like , if you're

17:56

not in danger of yourself , you're

17:58

probably okay , we can talk about it for a few minutes

18:00

, but we're gonna send you home . So they sent me home and

18:03

that was my wake up call that

18:05

I needed to not be in school

18:08

right now . I needed to take a break

18:10

, I needed to rest . I needed

18:12

to let myself sleep for 12 hours

18:14

a day . I needed to , you know

18:16

, figure out how to organize

18:19

my life so that I can

18:21

manage the few

18:23

tasks that I put on my to-do

18:26

list each day , you know , like

18:28

brushing my teeth and having a shower and

18:30

cooking myself . You know , that was all

18:32

I could handle , and I

18:34

couldn't even handle that while I was in school , so

18:36

I took a step away to just

18:38

focus on those things .

18:41

What I just heard there was

18:44

and let me know if this is fair to

18:46

say , but like that was

18:48

this aha moment where you stop

18:51

trying to force yourself to be the

18:53

same way that you were before this accident

18:55

and just accepted with where you're

18:57

currently at and gave yourself the time

18:59

that your body and mind

19:02

needed . Is that accurate

19:04

?

19:05

Absolutely . It was such

19:07

a wake-up call for that . And at

19:09

the time I was living with my family and

19:12

I love my family so much and they're all a bunch

19:14

of little go-getters and they

19:16

are the hardest working people I

19:19

know and they love it and they thrive

19:21

that way , and so for my whole life

19:23

I've looked up to these people and thought

19:25

, okay , I'm you know , I'm

19:28

blood related to them , they are my family

19:30

Like , maybe one day I'll

19:32

be like that , you know . And so

19:35

I always was trying to be like

19:37

that and to hustle and to work hard

19:39

and to do more and to get

19:41

it all done . And even

19:44

before the accident , that was what I was struggling with

19:46

. I was like , oh , I need to slow down , yeah

19:49

. And so it was really hard to

19:51

come to that place of understanding

19:53

and acceptance that maybe I'm

19:55

not like that , maybe that's not

19:58

me , and maybe this accident is

20:00

my lesson in surrendering

20:03

to slowing down and

20:05

finding my pace that

20:08

works for my life and works

20:10

for my joy .

20:13

Yes , sydney , yes , that is such

20:15

a powerful message because

20:18

, especially in today's day and age , where it's such

20:20

a hustle culture , there

20:23

can be this narrative that people carry as if

20:25

I'm not on all the time , if I am

20:27

not pushing at all times , I am

20:29

lesser than or I am less worthy

20:31

. And what I'm hearing is you found the beat for

20:33

your own drum that you were able to follow

20:35

, so what

20:38

ended up being some

20:40

tools or resources that have

20:42

helped you heal

20:44

and be able to continue

20:46

to move to the beat of your own drum ?

20:51

I am so blessed to have

20:53

had a lot of support in

20:55

that time . I got my antique

20:57

. I was living with Owens Owens , a wellness center

20:59

broken scroll wellness and in

21:02

Courtney and they have so

21:05

much there . So I got to try out

21:07

a lot of stuff . I was doing yoga very

21:10

frequently . I was doing meditations

21:12

. I was doing I

21:15

was doing this work called body code with

21:17

this woman named Dawn Elgin , and

21:21

I don't even really know how to explain

21:23

what it is , but it's very fascinating

21:26

. Is it a talk therapy

21:28

? Is it like a ? It's not a talk therapy

21:30

, it's a . Basically

21:34

, she connects in with your energy

21:36

and , using

21:38

the body code system , asks

21:40

questions to my

21:42

energy field and to my subconscious to

21:45

identify where there's blockages

21:47

that need to be let go . Very

21:50

, very fascinating work . So

21:53

that was very helpful . But

21:55

some of the main things that I really

21:57

brought with

22:00

me through my life and

22:02

through my day is so

22:04

many grounding practices . I really

22:07

learned the importance of being

22:09

present , especially after spending

22:11

probably at least 10

22:14

months completely dissociated

22:17

completely dissociated . So

22:19

once I started to come back into my body

22:21

, I realized just how

22:23

powerful that is

22:25

. So some of the things that I do for that it's

22:28

just like gentle movement , shaking

22:30

if I'm feeling overwhelmed , giving

22:33

myself , like you know , little hugs

22:35

and , you

22:37

know , moving my body in a way that

22:39

feels like it resonates with my experiences

22:42

. Another really , really important

22:44

thing that came to me during

22:47

this time is Reiki . I had

22:49

a Reiki session with my set

22:51

mom over Christmas break

22:53

and she

22:55

that was my first time ever having a

22:57

Reiki session she had just gotten her level one

23:00

Reiki certification , so she was practicing

23:02

and I felt the most

23:04

relaxed that I have ever felt

23:07

in my life , I

23:09

think . And there

23:11

was so much that came up during

23:13

that session and I just was hooked . So

23:15

three weeks later I got my Reiki certification

23:17

and started practicing on myself every

23:20

single day . It brought me

23:22

a sense of presence

23:24

. It brought me like safety

23:26

in my body so that I could process

23:29

by emotions and process the

23:32

sensations that were going on . My

23:34

chronic headaches started to melt

23:37

away slowly and all

23:40

these therapies that I had been doing had finally

23:42

actually started to work . So

23:44

that was huge , hugely

23:47

important in my healing

23:49

journey .

23:50

And for anyone who's listening , who maybe doesn't

23:52

know what Reiki is , could you tell us a little bit

23:54

about what a Reiki

23:56

practice is ?

23:58

Yeah , so Reiki . It's

24:00

a Japanese relaxation technique that

24:04

was founded by

24:06

Mikau Usui , and

24:08

it's essentially a

24:10

type of therapy that works with the bio

24:13

field , or the aura or the energy

24:15

centers , rather than the physical body . It

24:17

does involve the physical body a little bit too , because

24:20

the practitioner uses

24:23

their hands to direct life

24:25

force energy into each

24:27

of the energy centers , or seven energy

24:30

centers . And life force energy is

24:32

an energy that every

24:34

living thing has

24:36

within them . It's the energy that

24:38

gives us life , that gives us joy

24:41

, that allows us to move through our day

24:43

. And when this energy gets blocked

24:45

it can cause all kinds of different

24:47

symptoms . It can cause physical pain

24:49

, headaches , emotional distress

24:52

, and the blockages

24:54

can also be caused by trauma

24:57

, injury . You know hard

25:01

experiences , challenges in

25:03

our life that we don't fully move through

25:05

, and it just kind of refreshes

25:08

that energy so that you can move forward

25:10

a little , and Reiki was

25:12

so pivotal in your healing journey

25:14

that you're now certified .

25:16

you're a certified Reiki practitioner yourself

25:18

now , correct ? Yes ?

25:20

I am , yes , and I've started by a little

25:22

business doing it , because it just

25:24

changed my life so

25:27

much and it was such a

25:29

gift to be able to share that with other

25:31

people and I wanna keep doing

25:34

it . I just love it .

25:36

So now you're a certified Reiki practitioner

25:39

and a counselor and a coach , so

25:41

you have the capabilities to help so

25:44

many people and

25:46

you bring with you your own

25:48

experience of having to heal through

25:50

very difficult circumstances

25:52

. How has this accident

25:55

changed your life ?

25:59

This accident has completely

26:03

, completely turned

26:06

my life around , and

26:09

I think the

26:11

ways that it has changed me

26:13

the most is in , like I said

26:15

, my pace at which I move to the world

26:18

. It's brought me a lot of deeper

26:20

connection to myself , to

26:22

my purpose , to my purpose , to my

26:24

body . Yeah

26:29

, it changed in a lot

26:31

of ways that I'm still working through to

26:34

get really impacted by my relationship

26:37

with my partner . He spent a

26:39

long time just supporting me

26:41

and I was not able to really show up for him

26:43

in the same capacity . So now

26:45

that I am able to show up

26:48

for him in

26:51

a

26:54

greater capacity , we're

26:57

working through some of the

26:59

impacts that that trauma had on

27:01

us . It

27:04

really helped me to

27:06

get clear on what my

27:09

priorities are in

27:11

my life and my values

27:13

when it comes to my

27:15

work , the way that I

27:17

move through my day , my relationships

27:20

, my friendships . It's helped

27:22

me to really weed

27:25

away the stuff that's

27:27

just not working for me anymore

27:29

, and so my life has changed

27:31

a lot . It has changed a

27:34

lot .

27:36

You still journal and are you more cautious

27:38

of the things that you request from the universe these

27:40

days ?

27:42

I am very cautious about what I request

27:45

from the universe . Every time I find

27:47

myself saying something that could

27:49

come back and bite me in

27:51

the butt a little bit , I check

27:54

myself and I correct it like sorry

27:56

universe , I didn't mean it like that .

27:59

But it really does , sorry , continue

28:01

.

28:02

Yeah , I just I don't journal

28:04

as much as I used to . It's a practice that

28:07

I am just now starting to

28:09

bring back in , because during

28:11

the accident I wasn't really able to

28:13

focus on writing

28:16

things down . It just felt very

28:18

challenging , but I took videos of myself

28:20

talking instead , so kind

28:22

of like a journal practice , and

28:25

now I'm starting to get back into it a little bit .

28:30

I think I mentioned at the beginning

28:32

of this podcast the difference between

28:35

looking at life happening to

28:37

us and looking at it as life happening

28:39

for us . Do you feel

28:42

like you were meant to have this

28:44

experience ?

28:46

Absolutely , absolutely , it's

28:49

. Yeah

28:52

, I really do believe that

28:55

this accident

28:57

was the catalyst for all the changes that

28:59

I needed to make in my life and

29:01

all of the boundaries that I needed to set

29:03

in my life , and

29:05

it really helped me to get there

29:07

quickly . I think next

29:10

time I would ask the universe to

29:12

put it a little more gently . Teach

29:17

me this last time , but like softly please

29:19

, yes , maybe

29:21

not so hard , but

29:24

, yeah , I

29:27

really do believe that it was exactly

29:29

what I needed in that time .

29:32

Yeah , what would you say to

29:34

someone who is

29:37

just encountered or just experienced

29:40

an accident themselves that has

29:42

completely shaken them up and they're at those early

29:44

stages , or maybe in the early stages of healing

29:46

? What would you want to say to someone who

29:49

is in that dark place currently

29:51

?

29:55

There's so much , but I think really , the

29:57

biggest thing is just that it just takes time

29:59

and it is going to be challenging

30:01

and there are going to be times where you're just going

30:03

to want to take a magic pill that's going to

30:05

cure everything and , unfortunately

30:08

, trauma physical or emotional

30:11

trauma is one of those things that

30:13

unravels as time goes

30:15

on . And just to

30:17

have a lot of patience

30:20

and a lot of grace for yourself

30:22

and don't

30:24

be afraid to ask

30:26

for what you need from the

30:29

people in your life , the people that care about you

30:31

, even if it means taking

30:33

more space from the people that

30:35

you love and care about , so that you can tend

30:37

to yourself , so that you can hold

30:39

space for your own . Yeah

30:42

, I would say that that is

30:44

one of the greatest lessons that I learned

30:46

.

30:47

Amazing . Thank you so much

30:49

, sydney , for sharing all of your personal

30:52

journey . Your vulnerability

30:55

, I think , is going to help a lot of people

30:57

who are listening , whether they're in an accident or

30:59

not . I'm really learning the emphasis

31:01

of really trusting

31:04

your own rhythm and

31:06

not denying yourself the

31:10

things you want or need , but understanding

31:12

where it's coming from and seeing how you

31:14

can give those things to yourself . If

31:18

anyone listening is interested

31:20

in working with you , they're connected to your

31:22

story . Maybe they know someone who's been in

31:24

an accident or they're really struggling . They're

31:26

in a dark place themselves . How can they contact

31:29

you ?

31:31

Yeah , I have a website now

31:33

, so one way to contact me is through there

31:35

. It's earthandetherca , as

31:38

well as my Instagram , which I

31:40

am on pretty regularly , which is

31:42

earthandethercom . Those are

31:45

a couple of ways that people can reach out to me for

31:47

anything . If you want to

31:49

experience a Reiki session or

31:51

just want somebody to talk to , I

31:54

am super open to supporting people in the way

31:56

that I can .

31:58

Can you do Reiki remotely or do you need

32:00

to be in your neighborhood ?

32:04

You can do Reiki remotely . Reiki is

32:06

one of the best pieces of

32:08

Reiki in my opinion . That is something that I can

32:10

send to anybody anywhere

32:13

in the world at any time , because

32:15

energy is not bound by time

32:17

or space . It's really

32:20

lovely to be able to offer that to people

32:22

. I find that I've done both in person

32:25

and virtual sessions . I've

32:27

found no difference

32:29

in the effectiveness

32:31

of it , which is amazing .

32:34

Well , that's fantastic . I will make sure that all of Sydney's

32:37

links are in the episode description below

32:39

, so you don't have to question where to go . Just

32:41

click the links and it'll bring you right to Sydney . Thank

32:44

you so much again , Sydney , for having this conversation

32:46

. It's just been so nice to just reconnect with you too

32:48

.

32:50

Thank you so much , Jess . It's really good to

32:52

be here and to be

32:54

supporting your new podcast , which

32:57

I'm super excited for . Thank

32:59

you for having me .

33:05

If you enjoyed today's episode , please consider

33:07

liking and subscribing and letting us know your thoughts

33:09

in the comments below . It truly

33:12

means the world to me to hear from you

33:14

. New episodes will be available

33:16

every Saturday , both on YouTube

33:18

and wherever you get your podcasts and

33:21

if you would like to learn more about my work as a coach

33:23

today's guest or have a story that you

33:25

would like to share on the pivot point , check out the

33:27

episode description for more information

33:29

. Now

33:35

time for the legal stuff .