Glennys' story
My journey – by Glennys
"Having lost my very best school friend, my dearly beloved mother and my husband and soul mate of 30 years within a 12 month period my life, as I had known it, disintegrated into a living nightmare of dimensions I could not understand. In the same year I was diagnosed with cancer, possibly due to stress.
I was faced with allowing grief and self pity to overrun me, or to reach very deep within myself and drag a shocking set of personal circumstances together and survive. My motivation came from the support of my children while I endeavored to rebuild our failing family business and our lives.
For four years I underwent treatment. When possible, I worked 24 hours a day, rebuilding all that I had lost and bringing my children through their own grieving stages. During this process I drove not only myself, but all those people around me, to the limits of their abilities both physically and mentally. While we as a team achieved success on a business level, on a personnel level there were casualties. One of these was my daughter’s health.
When I realised that my single-minded focus to survive was causing stresses within my own family, I knew I had to change. However, I had no idea how to change. The process was beyond me. While I solve a multitude of challenging situations daily in business, I did not know how to change myself. A work colleague and friend suggested I should take a week out to stay at The Monastery as it had been recommended to her.
A while later I was privileged enough to stay for a week at this most beautiful location. While the demands of a busy business pursued me to this retreat, I was able to spend many hours during my stay on reflection and observation of myself.
The Monastery staff’s calmness and acceptance of everyone was an inspiration to me. I watched them deal with all situations with kindness and compassion.
Six months after my stay at The Monastery I’ve made the necessary changes to allow my children freedom from their perceived obligations of supporting me and the family business. I’ve lost 15 kilograms in weight and have regular executive meetings with myself while biking, kayaking or tramping.
The words of Rachael Hunter echo as I recall my Monastery experience – “it will not happen overnight, but it will happen.” If you just take a moment to observe yourself…you will clearly see a very worthy cause for future investment."
