Inspiring story

Article SUSIE TAAFFE

For me in 2015, divorce came out of the blue. One day I was living a very comfortable life in a big house with my husband and 3 very young kids, the next we were separating, his business was going into liquidation and the kids and I were moving into a very run-down old Queenslander. It was an adjustment to say the least!

I had worked as a FIFO engineer, a career I knew I couldn’t go back to now that I had a solo parenting gig. However, as the sole financial carer I had to find something to do to pay the mounting bills.

I knew this was my chance – I was either going to drown or choose to create a life that I love. So, I spent the next five years working whilst bootstrapping my side hustle and passion – to help women feel amazing through fashion. I created a soft and silky product Petti-pants Underwear, to solve a pain point for women – chafe; an ugly word but very common problem. My customers have said they have literally changed their lives.

I am now working full-time in my passion whilst being able to support myself and my three kids in a life we love. I have shed many tears throughout the process of the past six years, however my growth as a person and finding out who I am, has been extraordinary!

I have learned many lessons along this journey… The biggest of all is to be grateful and content with what you have at any stage in life. Look around you – the simplest things are what you really need to be happy. A little exercise – imagine you have one hour to live. How would you want to spend it? Take a few minutes to close your eyes and think about this. Funnily, people often tend to worry about transport, so for the exercise, imagine you can teleport anywhere, and anyone to you, for the hour!

What were your thoughts? Did you need that new fancy car or outfit in your last hour of life? I absolutely love this exercise for bringing out exactly what is important to us. Now try to build that into your daily life. Hug more, call your family and friends, laugh more, sit in the sunshine and swim in the ocean.

This brings me to my next point on how to turn these into a ‘happiness toolkit’ for yourself which you can access whenever the days feel tough! Write down a list of all the things that make you happy. For me this would look like: music, sunshine, swimming in the ocean, walking by the water, laughing with friends, eating delicious food, a nap, taking a bath, candles, hugging my children or cat, painting or drawing, watching a funny movie, spending time with my family or lying in bed with a good book.

Now, when things don’t feel great you can access your toolkit – choose a few items which are accessible to you at that time. Sometimes sitting in the sun or having a nap can solve a whole multitude of woes!

Stay kind to yourself beautiful people!!!

www.missymassy.com