My Own Polycrisis. When Your Beliefs Add Fuel to the Overwhelm.

Polycrisis is a term describing multiple crises at the same time. I'm sure you could give me a few examples in your own life - I give you one of mine.

I was born in Europe, raised as a city girl and enjoyed living in Western Australia for a good decade before the idea of moving to a farm came up. When I married my husband, as it turned out, I stepped into a life his family had been living for generations, and one I hadn't exactly pictured for myself.

It all went great, until the initial momentum became heavy. Renovating our home, updating the farm infrastructure, starting a family, COVID. The realisation that visiting my family would take a day-long plane ride and some, and that we will never run out of jobs, ever.

COVID added the existential dread flavour to our challenges. Normally, I'd tackle challenges well but I was running out of optimism, and started to become bitter and negative about everything. I knew this approach will only make things worse - thanks neuroplasticity. This lifestyle began to feel heavy. I felt as though I ended up in a life that I didn't consciously choose.

This sinking feeling was a signal for me to address it, so I reached out to work with an RTT therapist. I knew the method works. Remote, efficient, gets to the bottom of things fast.

By the time I booked the appointment, we had a healthy, happy baby. It felt like we had no right to complain, not really, not compared to millions around the world. I knew with my conscious brain that I didn't have a bad life. But I still felt like a victim, a powerless, helpless child who needed someone to save her. A Disney princess, essentially.

What came up in the session blew my mind. It was simple yet powerful. My father's view on country living: it's always going to be hard, challenging, unhappy. Basically a struggle. And it amazed me and pissed me off at the same time.

I was feeling unhappy and stuck because I'd taken on my father's belief as my own truth. Unconsciously, of course. Nevertheless.

Realising it and reframing it was the first step. Acting on it was the next. Turns out, I enjoy driving the loader. Painting the walls. Working with the land. Removing old fences. Things I had never done in my life - yet somehow they felt oddly familiar. It felt like a homecoming, on a completely different continent. These skills and inclinations lived in my DNA all along and it took releasing this subconscious block to finally appreciate it.

My beliefs were running in the background, limiting my perspective and energy. Fortunately I always saw myself as a person who tackles challenges well, so I did not need to change this part of my identity. I did need to release the city girl and the helpless victim beliefs though, and I couldn't have done it with mindset work alone. The scaffolding - the subconscious patterns that hold a life together - also needs updating.

I'm telling you this story because I can endlessly empathise with the feeling of challenge after challenge coming your way. That there might be an invisible anchor holding you down - and you don't need a capital-T Trauma for it to be real. A father's offhand view of country life was enough to colour mine for years - invisibly, quietly, until it wasn't.

When it feels like you are out of control in your own life, that too much is changing too soon, I want to stop you for a moment and tell you: I get it, truly. And I can help.