Hi! I’m Elaine, I’m typing at my dining room table on a Saturday morning whilst my family slumbers on. Maybe you are reading this story close to me, in the UK, or perhaps further away, across oceans, across continents. It doesn’t matter where you are, because right now, we are together, two souls, two empowered, thriving women connected. It is no coincidence. I stopped believing in those “that’s strange…” moments a long time ago. I found this magazine and its call out for contributions exactly as I was meant to. I am honoured to share part of my story where I hit rock bottom and began my rising. Divine. Right. Timing.
So here I am.
Here you are.
Let’s begin.
The Shattered Swan
I was recently listening to the beautiful “Light is the New Black” by Rebecca Campbell – as I sat in a dentist chair for over two hours. I needed something to keep me calm and to take me away from the pain of the needles, the sound of the whirring tools. She talked about hitting rock bottom and how it was actually something to be pleased about. And that rang true. Loud. Clear. Deafening. Those words blocked out the whirring, the humming, and they hit hard. In my heart. My rock bottom had been the beginning of my rising.
It all happened a little over three years ago. Picture the scene: I was a successful, professional woman. I had the home. The family. The career which balanced a main job and a successful self-employed business. I travelled, empowering education professionals through training, writing and activism. I had grown an online network of 50,000 advocates for education in seven years. And yet, last night, a reiki healer told me she’d seen me as a swan – graceful and composed above the water and yet with legs paddling like crazy beneath. Yes. That was me. Maybe it’s you too?
I was entering an exciting phase of my life, building a new life abroad with my family. I had landed a dream job. New adventures awaited. The world was our oyster. Until it wasn’t. It all fell apart. I broke open – no – I shattered in a million tiny pieces, and I hit the “rock bottom” that Rebecca Campbell so eloquently wrote about, completely unaware that this was the beginning of my rising. As I sat hopeless and isolated, sobbing uncontrollably down the phone to a mental health charity, I had no idea how critical this moment was. That moment led me here, to you, sharing my rising, living a life I never imagined.
So, what happened to me after that catastrophic fall to rock bottom, my life quake? Well, I started the long, painful, bumpy walk back to me. A me I had forgotten and neglected. My rising began.
I started to see the world as if wearing new glasses – noticing people, places and situations that no longer aligned. I wish I could say that I ended my marriage and then we skipped off into the sunset before going our separate ways, but any divorced readers will know that’s unlikely. For anyone navigating divorce or separation and feeling like it will never end – please know each day is a step closer to the ending and to your new chapter. And whilst you are being stalled in that painful space? It is a sacred time of holding. Preparing. Aligning. Healing. Trust me. I was you.
The Road Back to Me
I began to listen. Listen to something I had always known was there, something so much bigger than me. A higher power, call it God, Buddha, Allah, the universe, source, angels, your inner wisdom; whatever you call this all-seeing, all-powerful, all-healing power, I finally listened to it. I listened with my mind, body and soul. A sacred power that had been drumming since childhood, quietly at first and getting louder until those moments of shattering at age 46, I could ignore its rising no more.
I woke up. The magic began.
I found myself aligned with people on the same path, sometimes spiritual professionals who guided me, others were existing connections who suddenly began to speak about their own spirituality, some were completely new relationships – like my soulmate. Everything and everyone was aligning around me. My light was attracting light. I was rising.
I was drawn to new tools, rituals and learning – crystals, tarot and oracle cards, my guardian angel, journalling, manifesting, courses and seminars. I still devour audiobooks on my daily runs (something impossible for the woman I used to be). I hear songs and music in new ways. Today and the rest of my life is dedicated to this sacred study.
Shining Together
What comes next for me is this. Talking to you, sharing my story, guiding others, shining my light, the light that was hidden. I am here for a reason. To empower others to rise from those moments in the darkness, at rock bottom.
I am the woman walking a little ahead of you, my light radiating, gently calling you forward, my hand outreached back towards you.
“Keep going. You’ve got this. We are rising. We are women thriving.”
Name: Elaine Taylor-brown
Professional Title: Intuitive Writer And Speaker
Bio: After A Career Spent Empowering And Advocating In The World Of Education, Elaine Is Stepping Into Her Next Chapter-supporting Women To Rise And Become Through Her Own Stories, Intuition, And Spiritual Learning. She Is Writing Her First Self-published Healing Memoir, I Think We’re Done Now, To Inspire Others.
