DEDICATION
This book is dedicated to you, the woman who aspires for more in life. A
woman who knows that despite your pains and struggles, you are meant for
more. A woman who wants to thrive and is inspired by other women rising to their power and purpose in life.
For a woman who wants to become aligned, live a purposeful life and create
the freedom to be who she was created to be. Be unapologetically you.
“A butterfly cannot see its wings, but the rest of us can. Remember: you are beautiful, and while you may not see it, we can.”
INTRODUCTION
Dear reader,
As you read this book, I hope you take a moment to immerse
yourself in every story written on these pages, as every chapter in this
book was written for you to help you thrive.
This book has been written by eight amazing women from
different parts of the world, backgrounds and life experiences. Before
this project, they had never met each other before, but they all shared
something in common: a mission to positively impact others through
the power of their stories. Some of these women have never shared
these powerful stories before, so this is a very intimate experience for
them to pour their hearts out to you, the reader, in hopes that it will
make a difference in your life. Sharing our stories of overcoming
adversities and some of the darkest moments of our lives is not easy.
It takes a lot of courage, soul searching, self-questioning, doubting
and, in the end, bravery to speak our truth. To lay our adversities bare
on the line for someone else to read and experience it requires re-
living our stories and doing a lot of inner healing.
You may not resonate with all these stories today, but the story
that touches you the least today may be just what you need to hear
down the road. May one of these stories impact your life just when
you need it the most. The purpose of this book is to inspire you, the
reader, to know that life comes with adversities, unexpected twists
and turns, moments when you seem to have it all, and life just pulls
the rug from under your feet, we hope that this book inspires you to
keep going despite those life challenges. For some, the start in life
was not as fortunate, and some of these women could have ended up
as a tragedy. For others, adversities happened later in life, which
taught them valuable lessons and helped them find the purpose in
their pain.
These authors have experienced some truly trying times that
nearly broke them, but in those moments of defeat, they found
strength, courage, awakening and renewed purpose. These women
share their stories in hopes that you won’t have to feel alone in your
struggles and that you may find courage and inspiration in their
bravery.
As you read the pages of this book, remember that this could be
someone’s survival guide. Please share it with someone else,
recommend it to your friends, leave a review, or send a thank you
note to the author whose chapter inspired you. I promise you that is
the most rewarding part of writing a book: hearing from our readers
and how our message has impacted them. It is the biggest blessing
and gift to have our stories out in the world, touching people’s lives.
As you pick up the book the picture on the cover may remind you
of the different phases of life, and different moments of
transformation. There may be one face that particularly stands out
for you today, and another the next time you hold this book in your
hands. This book is meant to be an inspirational journey, an
experience where every time you read it there may be something new
you will discover, about the author, their story or about yourself. As
you go through your life’s journey, you may face similar challenges, or
may have already had to overcome your own trials, and found
inspiration and courage to move through them. May this book be a
reminder of just how strong, resilient, and capable we all are of
overcoming adversities and finding the way through them to thrive.
Raimonda Jankunaite
STARTING A NEW CHAPTER
By Raimonda Jankunaite
here is something really empowering about looking in the
car’s rear view mirror and seeing all your belongings in the
back of the car, knowing a new chapter of your life is about
to begin.
It was June 2021. I had made the pivotal decision to leave
everything I had built for the last six years with a man I loved. To
pack my stuff and walk out to start a new life.
As I drove away from my home on that warm, sunny day, I felt a
sudden release: from here on out, I was in control of my own life and
my destiny.
I didn’t have it all figured out, far from it. I just had to trust in the
path yet to unfold that it would become better the further I walked
into it. I didn’t have a place to live, nothing to call my own except my
clothes and a few belongings I had taken with me. I didn’t know how
I would manage on my own, and I just had to have faith that all
would work out.
As I was driving away, my phone rang. It was one of my business
friends, with whom I had chatted just a few days ago, about the messy
divorce she was going through with her narcissistic husband. Just a
few days ago, I was giving her advice on how to handle the situation
she was navigating with her abusive and possessive ex, blissfully
unaware that I would soon be in the same position.
As I picked up the phone, we greeted each other, and she said,
“Wait - why do you have all these things in the back of your car?
Where are you going?”
I smiled and said, “I have something to tell you: I AM ON MY
WAY TO START A NEW LIFE!”
I was beaming with a smile and felt more empowered than ever
before. Not because it didn’t hurt but because I knew I deserved
better than the lies and deceit I lived in.
As she looked at me - she said, “It looks like you are the energy
that is moving the car, not the other way around.” It was true - the car
was filled with my stuff and a newfound empowerment that was
moving the vehicle forward. My energy was: “LIFE, I AM READY
FOR YOU!”
She said, “I wish I were as strong and determined when I left my
husband; I was a total wreck.”
I wasn’t a wreck because I was relieved to make the escape that I
did, not realising that the wreck would come further down the line,
filled with pain, anger, tears, frustration and much more.
It was all about that moment, the sudden realisation that this
decision was much bigger than me and my life. I told her that I made
this leap not just for myself but for all the other women who may be
stuck in a hopeless situation at home. For women who have given
their power away for love and succumbed to lies, control and deceit.
For women who don’t yet see that a better life is laid out for them, if
only they dare to leap. For all the women who deserve better.
Travelling in the Wrong Direction
A few months before this happened, it was a pretty ordinary weekend
at home. As always, I was home alone because my partner had other
commitments every weekend. I remember walking into our bedroom,
looking at the sun beaming on the perfectly made bed, my favourite
picture on the wall, and a dark wooden chest of draws with little
crystals laid out on the top. It was a peaceful and quiet afternoon.
In the room were our happy memories. Our smiling pictures
hung by the bed in heart-shaped frames from our highlight moments.
It all looked perfect on the outside. We didn’t lack anything, we
weren’t arguing, and there was no real issue that felt prominent
except the underlying feeling that something was wrong, so at that
moment, I had an awakening vision.
I could only describe this vision like my life was moving on a
parallel road to the one I was meant to live in. As if I knew that this
was not my road to be on anymore, and the longer I stayed on it, the
further away I was moving from my purpose. I knew there was
nothing else I could do on this path right here that would lead me to
where I was supposed to be.
I felt sadness. Inside I felt empty, as one too many shattered
dreams and plans never came to fruition, making me feel hopeless in
the situation I was in. There were too many disappointments and
things that did not make sense, but I was still there, hoping it would
change. Time and time again, I was compromising and finding
excuses for someone else, yet suffering inside myself, putting my
dreams on hold, and playing the waiting game. I was waiting for
something big to happen, to either make or break our relationship.
It was never the right time to make changes to the life that we
both supposedly wanted. It was never the right time to move, travel,
start something new or take a leap towards our goals and dreams.
There was always a convenient excuse or a reason why not now.
Have you ever felt like your life was moving in a particular
direction and you felt like hitting the brakes and saying: “I need to get
out.”? Or feeling so stagnant that you are just watching the clock tick
and your life’s destiny run away from you?
Tick tock, tick tick, how long are you going to wait? What needs to
happen for you to hit the brakes and restart your life again?
Maybe in your life, it's a job that feels stale and unfulfilling;
perhaps it's a relationship that no longer feels right for you; maybe it's
a business that you've been stuck with, and it feels out of alignment.
However, you continue going through your daily motions, hoping
for something big to happen to change. Still, over and over again, you
are experiencing the same feeling of being on the wrong side of the
motorway just as I was, travelling in the wrong direction.
That was my life - I wanted to hit the brakes - but it seemed like I
travelled this far - maybe there is still hope at the end of it all?
Perhaps somehow, we will still reach our destination? I know; that
was my wishful thinking as a perpetual optimist.
The further I moved, the more I realised that this was not the
road I should remain on. Whilst the road I was on did not lack
mutual love, support and material things, it lacked an open and
honest truth and commitment. It was built on control, manipulation
and selective truth to keep me at bay. After six years of living together,
there was simply no progress in our life, and I was at a crossroads.
At that moment, I knew even if tomorrow everything in our
current situation changed to how I dreamed that one day it would be
- I knew it would be just a matter of time before the bubble burst and
everything would fall apart.
In Control of Your Own Destiny
I realised that if I wanted anything to change, I had to take a leap of
faith. No matter how uncertain, scary and uncomfortable it felt, I had
to put a hard stop to my life as I knew it and start again. I knew there
would be no easy way to do it, and it just had to be done.
Tony Robbins says, “Change happens when the pain of staying
the same is greater than the pain of change.” This was true for me -
because, from the outside, what seemed quite an ordinary and happy
life, on the inside, I knew it was no longer in alignment with me. I
had to stop fooling myself and recognise that I was the only one in
control of my life. As much as I could blame others for not moving or
changing to my expectations, I had to become the driver of my
destiny.
I realised that over the years, I had changed so much from the
inside out that the life I had built no longer made sense. I was not
willing to sacrifice any more, and I was not willing to stay quiet and
accept our reality for what it was. I was no longer willing to put up
with a life in which I only saw 50% of the truth.
I also realised that not everyone around me had grown along with
me but had instead grown apart from me. Again, expecting someone
to change just because you changed is like expecting the rest of the
world to move in the same direction as you. You have to realise that
you have your mission to follow and purpose to fulfil, and not
everyone is meant to be part of the next chapter of your journey. I
knew that if I wanted to live a life that was honest to myself and
aligned with my values and purpose, I had to make the hard decision
to cut my losses and make a leap. After all, I knew I did not come this
far, only to accept a mediocre life.
Blocking Our Own Blessings
When you live in misalignment, nothing seems to be moving forward,
which was the case for me. Nothing I wished, worked for or tried to
manifest was moving forward. It didn’t matter if I wrote my goals in
the diary, put up vision boards, made concrete plans or worked 24-7
for what I wanted. Nothing was working out.
Until that point in my life, I worked hard, probably harder than
most people in regular careers. Having chosen to follow the
entrepreneurship route and failing a few of my initial business ideas,
I had to work twice as hard to prove a point and make it work. I did
not have a guaranteed salary since the age of 21, so everything I
earned resulted from my work and sheer commitment.
Despite putting in endless hours in my business and investing in
growing it, nothing seemed to work. I had built a huge online
following, a well-recognised and respected brand, and helped
thousands of people along the way, yet I could not make it work
financially for myself. It was as if something was blocking my success,
and I was giving away all my energy and getting nothing in return.
So I worked on myself, my skills, my mindset, and my limiting
beliefs. I hired help, built a team, worked with coaches, and invested
in all the programs you can think of. Yet, I was still just breaking even,
meaning making just enough to cover the costs of running it all.
The fact was, it was not like I did not know what I was doing. I
was helping many others, and my advice would lead them to start
and build successful businesses. I had a business degree, strong
business and work ethics and the right idea that was getting the
attention of my audience. But time and time again, it would fall short
of sustaining me, beyond the business.
After I had tried everything, I honestly didn’t know what was
getting in my way anymore. I had put it down to a money mindset
and limiting beliefs, so I did deep hypnosis and inner healing to get
past my limiting beliefs, but it was still a struggle.
Whilst I was with my partner, I did not have to worry about
paying the bills at home, so I felt safe being taken care of whilst I
built my business. I could solely focus on my work and my business.
He was supportive of my dreams and always encouraged me to work
hard. We always shared work ethics and striving ambition to succeed
in life. So it was a comfortable and safe place to be, knowing I did not
have to think about how to survive constantly, and living in London is
not easy for a single person. Perhaps it was a blessing and a curse.
Financial comfort at home was ‘safe’, but it also did not allow me to
succeed independently.
No matter what I did, nothing was moving things forward in my
business. Every launch, every event, and every new product would
make enough to pay for itself and the team. I was getting frustrated
and exhausted to the point where I questioned everything. Should I
even carry on? I nearly gave up many times, but something kept
saying: don’t give up on it all just yet; something better will come out
of this.
Again, in that moment of crossroads, I realised I was blocking my
blessings. By staying in my situation, I was not allowing a new flow of
abundance and blessings to come into my life. Because I had a fear of
letting go of the comfort of my home, security and support system, I
was living in fear instead of faith and trust. Without knowing for sure,
I knew deep down in my gut that I had to let go of everything and
surrender to the unknown.
I knew that I would not be able to fly until I was willing to let go of
the solid ground beneath my feet. So I did.
I let go of everything holding my life up in my comfort zone and
told myself that, no matter what, I GOT THIS. I will figure it out; if
not, somehow, the universe will catch me or show me the way.
I know many women stay in toxic environments because of
financial security and fear, but this experience taught me that we, as
women, are strong and capable enough to figure it all out on our own.
When times are tough, we are capable of becoming even stronger to
fight for what it is worth.
Don’t get me wrong, it was not easy, and at times I wondered,
“How am I going to make it?” but the more I leaned into faith and
surrender, the more the universe rewarded me. It rewarded me for
every bit of patience and trust I had. Whenever I thought I reached
the end of the road, the universe would magically open the path forward. So I kept walking in faith.
Finding My Soul’s Purpose
Within days of starting a new chapter in my life, I moved to Spain to
live with my mum, who had retired there six months prior. I wanted
to be as far away from it all as possible. I needed not only a new
chapter in my life, I needed to build a whole new life for myself. I had
to start from scratch. I had to figure out who I was, what I wanted,
and how I would like to build my life forward. It was both a scary and
exciting new beginning.
