Travelling around Australia was an exciting adventure for me. Rick and I had saved for a few years to do it, knowing we were heading west with our camper trailer without any plans. When we packed up to leave KI and said see you later, I felt very free. Free to finally be me, be whoever I wanted to be. I felt very restricted back here when growing up. I wanted to leave that behind for some reason; I was driven and didn’t know why. It wasn’t because I didn’t love my family and friends; I just wanted more than this. I was always searching for something; I think it was the feeling of freedom. We spent some time in Kalgoorlie and Lake Grace. We ended up in Jerramungup in Western Australia for three or four years, with Rick working and me running my hairdressing salon there. I loved it and wanted to stay there. I loved the freedom of being just the Annie Morris who walked into town with no history there for me, ready to branch into a new version of myself.
Rick and I were totally in love; I just did whatever made him happy, so we decided to return home. Free Annie came back to KI, but all the blockages came back out, too. I just wanted not to focus on all the rubbish, so I got really busy in the community; we had our kids, and life changed, but in came isolation and everything after that. My darkest time was probably my post-natal depression, which was actually the saviour of my life, too; funny that. I hit rock bottom before you could go up. I didn’t know what depression was at the time. I felt very isolated, my hormones running wild with Tanner. I remember ringing the helpline, finding it all very disturbing, labelling myself as mental. When the doctors labelled me as clinically depressed, I went and got help from the mental health team here, who were excellent. They questioned everything I was saying and thinking, and I realised that maybe I had a few interesting things I was bringing through from my childhood. I feel like I did well again on and off for another ten years and then fell into another big hole around the mid-forties. That was when I realised I’ve got to change my ways. I was convinced I was broken. I kept thinking, Rick shouldn’t have to put up with this, what kind of mother am I going to be. When I was about to have my next two girls, I remember my family going, ‘Oh oh’, and saying ‘, Don’t have anymore, Annie, you can’t cope with the two you’ve got.’ My work now has really rescued me, the passion I feel for it. I now know I was not broken; it was just my way of thinking. But knowing that you can change, make these changes, you have to go through a fair bit of shit to get there, but it’s incredible what grows out of mud. Lotuses do; they grow out of mud, finally, find the light and turn into a beautiful flower. When Rick and I joined the Farm Owners Academy course a few years back, I got very excited about personal development. Over the years, there were moments when I didn’t think it would work, all that mindfulness stuff, but I stuck with it and saw proof in other people. I kept going and sought lots of different coaches. The key was for me to engage with different people, and I realised a common denominator and pattern was happening here. I knew when I was in flow and felt in alignment that I related to everything they said. I was either in alignment or not, and I try to live my life in alignment now. It can still sneak in, but not very often now, and when it does, I can get back on track quicker. It’s very human, life will keep life-ing. I wasn’t taught that, but I now know that we’re meant to have ups and downs, and it’s important we have them. these days, I know how to handle emotions and feelings. I hated it as a kid, pushed all that uneasiness in my body away and ploughed on to the next thing. Over time, I have learned that it’s okay to have these moments, sit through them, and process things. I am very passionate about my work, timeline, NLP, and hypnotherapy. They’re all different modalities, but all lead back to yourself. NLP is neurolinguistic programming, it really just means being mindful about the words we speak.
I help people who are stuck and want to make changes. That is the easiest way to describe it. I have tools and techniques to help them make the changes, but when they do the work, I empower them. I am an empowerment and change coach, but I also call myself an accelerated change coach. It took me 15 years to get here, and I know how to help people cut corners now. What I know is that I have been unpacking my shit for so long that it actually became unhealthy for me. If you keep trying to take the mud out, it’s a continuous job; there is no end. I was doing that a lot. I focused on all the shit. Now I focus on all the positive, and focus on what you do want and live up there. I call myself a manifesting queen because I like to live here now; I am a visionary who helps others find their vision, find their purpose, and find out who they truly are while undigging a few negative things and blocks on the way. That has only just come to me in the last three to six months. It got really clear over the work that I have done. Being in flow and focusing on all the good stuff, the other bits can just settle down. My work is helping people step into the best version of themselves. Over the years, I’ve got the love back for KI. Back then I was too focused on the negative but what I remember from my childhood, in other ways, was amazing. My childhood was camping at D’estrees Bay for 8 weeks every summer. What a cool childhood! I swam every day, hunted crayfish, and got up to kid antics with other families, like the Weatherspoons, Cliffords and all the fams we grew up with. It was my favourite time, and I always spent time in nature, which is very interesting. I am a fourth-generation islander with a lot of history here; I have rediscovered where my grandma fell off the rocks at D’estrees. It is a really special place there for me; I climb down there, comb the beaches, see the ospreys, collect rocks, paint, get back into nature, and keep that connection with the place. The second half of my life has been Vivonne and the West End, its my community. I am ready to give back more now again, ready to serve others with my work. It’s an energy exchange, seeing the full potential in people, that we are all the same. Everyone has something to give, and there are so many benefits to living here, but what I find is that the safety and connection on the island are what I love. I am proud of our family for going down the road of self-development because I think being really authentic and walking the talk is very important to me. It’s vital to be imperfect, be you, and the real people will show up around you. There are no rules to life apart from focusing on your passions and what you love.