Ahoy There! I'm Carolyn...
In June 2014, I said a very teary yet very excited farewell to my life and career in the UK, to join my husband who had relocated to Italy 9 months earlier. My husband and I are not ones to do things the easy conventional way! Deciding to sell everything we owned, saving only our very prised possessions we bought a sailing boat!
Setting sail from Falmouth UK, we sailed around 2500 nautical miles to our new home at the top of the Adriatic in north east Italy.
After a few weeks and some boat trials and tribulations later, we arrived in what would become our home port for the next three years! Although I’d travelled a fair bit (having been in the merchant navy and I love to explore the world!) This was my first experience of ‘proper’ living abroad – I didn’t speak Italian and I didn’t know anyone there yet. The first week or so was like being on holiday, I was enjoying organising the boat after quite a long trip and getting to know the local area.
Not so living the dream!
When we decided to move to Italy, we VERY naively (in hindsight!) assumed I would be able to get a job, probably still in maritime, as we were surrounded by ports, and I would merrily continue my career in the industry I loved. Sadly, this was not the case! So, instead, I threw myself into sanding and varnishing and got to work, beautifying our 1980’s boat!
Having gone from a busy operations room dealing with Anti-Maritime Piracy, to being on my own everyday, I started to feel quite lonely and my health started to deteriorate, particularly my skin health. Having had eczema all my life, I had a huge flare up that escalated quite quickly to cause the skin across my body to become infected, my hair and eyebrows to fall out and depression to set in. The inflammation in my body was off the scale.
Road to Recovery:
I fortuitously stumbled across an amazing dermatologist. He was the first to treat me as a whole person, not just look at my skin! Asking questions about my diet, lifestyle and history, he had a truly holistic approach, explaining how the skin, gut and liver are all linked. Sending me for blood work and allergy tests, he put me on an elimination diet, as well as prescribing antihistamines, creams, acids, sprays, probiotics and omega oils.
Week by week I saw huge improvements in my skin and my depression, sparking a curiosity and wanting in me to find out how I could help myself. Preferring natural remedies and food over prescription drugs, I started to take short courses in food as medicine; how stress affects immunity; the foundations of dermatology and nutrition for skin.
Over the course of a couple of years, I was, for the most part managing my skin through stress management, diet, improved gut health and yoga.
On moving from Italy to Monaco, and one baby later, my skin was flaring again! Doing yoga on the boat became quite tricky and doing it on the pontoon was too distracting with passers by wanting to chat or watch! That’s when I started to practice and reap massive benefits of Face Yoga! Having falling in love with the improvements I felt in my mental wellbeing, stress and migraines, I trained to become a Face Yoga teacher.
After 10 years aboard, we said goodbye to our boat! Taking it as an opportunity to further my skills and practice, I went onto to train in full yoga, meditation and breathwork. I love combing them into to a package of practices for mind, body and soul, no matter where you are, or what you’re doing!
Realising that my clients were mostly women upward of 35 years old, and starting to experience perimenopause symptoms, I wanted to be able to offer more support and a truly holistic approach to help them manage their wellbeing. I went back to school and I was so excited to professionally qualify as a Menopause Wellness Practitioner, allowing me to coach perimenopause, menopause and post menopausal women.
Navigating My Perimenopause:
I started my peri-menopausal journey when I was 38, and my son was just 2 years old. I was so angry, moody, tired, and sensitive ALL the time; I couldn’t sleep due to night sweats and my palpitations were so strong, I was scared my heart would bounce right out of my chest! My anxiety levels were off the chart, and I thought I was going off-the-chart crazy.
Realising I couldn’t carry on like this, I reached out to my GP and found out that I was perimenopausal – although quite a shock, I felt a huge sense of relief too!
Wanting to take back control and stop my nonsensical desire to throw things at my husband or scream at random people and getting little support from my GP; I realised there was a way to use my perimenopause symptoms and my cycle to my advantage. I have been able to lessen and alleviate my symptoms, like brain fog, night sweats, heart palpitations and anxiety, leaving me feeling much more like my positive, happy, and energetic self again!
My Approach:
As a fully qualified and accredited Menopause Wellness Practitioner, yoga, face yoga, breathwork and meditation teacher. I take a 360-degree approach to my coaching, looking at all aspects of your life and work, so we can really nail down what’s at the core of your symptoms and what might be triggering them, especially at work!
Delving into your diet, stress levels, menstrual cycle patterns, energy levels, mental health, and sleep habits, to name a few! You will gain a much greater understanding of how to recognise and manage your needs, including how to communicate them to others. Lessening and alleviating your symptoms, leaving you with increased confidence, energy, and control over your health and wellbeing.
Writing for Menopause Life magazine in 2023, I shared a series of articles on how face yoga can be used as a perimenopause management tool!
Currently based in Malta, I offer online coaching to perimenopausal executive leaders – If that sounds like you, then check out my Unlock Your Perimenopause Power Programme here!
Why I'm So Passionate:
Spending 20 years in a very male dominated environment, I’d often be the only women on board a vessel, or in the room of multi-nationals. Holding a position of authority, I had to be able ‘hold my own!’
I am incredibly passionate about advocating for equality, but more than that, to drive a different narrative about things like the menopause in the workplace, which is viewed in a hugely negative way by so many, including women!
I honestly get it, from managing embarrassment, to feeling like you have to carry on regardless, to communication challenges with management, but by making menopause your superpower you can truly change your life and the life’s of those that follow in your footsteps!
Adventure Awaits!
When I’m not coaching you’ll find me as close to the ocean as possible! From ships to sail boats, to paddle boards to swimming, (a true Cancerian!) I can’t be far from the water!
If we’re not sailing, I love to take road trips and wild camp in our Land Rover, go hiking and skiing.
Do you want to transform your perimenopause symptoms into your strenghts?
Book a FREE Breakthrough call where we can go over your symptoms and I can offer you my top 3 tips to help you immediately manage your worst symptoms.
The menopause is as complex and unique as the woman going through it, so knowing where to even begin, can be overwhelming – That’s why I’m here to help!
Book your FREE breakthrough call with me today for my top 3 tips to immediately get your worst symptoms under control at work, so you can get back to being the passionate and dedicated leader you are.