As I grew up, I quickly started to learn that helping people brought me the best personal rewards. When I say rewards, I mean that feeling inside you get when things have gone well, or when you finally sit down in the evening and feel truly content.
As I reached my late teens and started to concentrate more on navigating my way through life, I never really settled on a plan or career path. I just tried to do what I loved while trying to help people along the way. For many years this was in the outdoor industry, finding my way to a number of different companies whose main goal was challenging people in safe environments — then discussing their emotions and helping them develop coping strategies to manage stressful situations. Basically, helping people navigate through life and be the best and happiest individuals they could be.
I then found my way into the world of funerals. While this may sound strange to a lot of people, I really enjoy the work. This was finally something I could do where I could help people on a much deeper level. I quickly realised I could do this for the rest of my life, without the worry that the physical strain of expedition work put on my body.
I started with one of the large companies and got qualified. While gaining loads of experience and meeting some great individuals, it just did not fulfil all my dreams. Having pressure put on me to sell more limousines and meet “targets” was simply not how I felt this job should be. In the end, I decided to set up my own business, under my own name. What a proud but scary moment that was — seeing my name above the funeral home for the first time. This was eight years ago now, and while I still worry (we all worry), I love being able to help people so much more than ever before.
The Reiki Journey
Over the last three years I have been practising Reiki Healing, and I recently received my level 2 certificate. This is such an important part of my life. My main use for Reiki has been my own self-healing — very much internal up to now. It has helped me process much that has happened in the past, keeps me strong, and has led me on to further learning about the energy of this wonderful earth we all call home.
My next dream is to work publicly in private homes and hospices — to not only be able to help people when they have lost someone they love, but also to support people who may be ill and help them relax and cope a little better.
I want people to know that until I started this business, I did not have a life plan that looked further than a couple of months into the future. I simply had this feeling inside that I wanted to help people and make this world a more bearable place. On my own I cannot make a massive difference to the world, but I can make a difference to the people I come into contact with — and if we all did this, surely that would make a bigger difference together.