Eight years ago Andrea Morrison had burnt out. Now she is sharing how she turned her life around. Catherine Scott reports.
“I don’t think I know how to be stressed any more,” says Andrea Morrison.
That is very different to 2010 when Andrea was forced to take time off work as a barrister after being diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome.
“I was working full-time as a barrister, pushing myself 125 per cent to make sure I didn’t miss anything, while also being a mum to a six, five and three-year-old,” she recalls.
“I wasn’t looking after my health, I’d suffered pneumonia and I kept telling myself how stressed I was and constantly compared myself to other people and worrying about what people thought of me.”
In the end something had to give, and it was Andrea’s health.
“It is really difficult to get out of that cycle. I didn’t realise the physical and emotional strain it was putting on my body.
“But, in the end, my body made its own decision.”
Andrea, who lives in York with her husband Paul and their three children, initially took a six-month sabbatical from her legal practice while she tried to make herself well again.
“I did everything I possibly could to get myself healthy again. But what I really needed to do was deal with what was going on in my head.”
Over the following years Andrea tried many techniques, therapies and practices. While many just didn’t make any material difference, some did and she adapted them further so that they worked for her and she also created some of her own.
She did some tutoring at university, which she loved and then took the brave decision to turn her back on her legal profession.
Andrea is now an experienced personal coach and has trained with Ali Campbell in both Life Coaching, Hypnotherapy and Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP).
She also a Clinical Hypnotherapist and four years ago wrote her first book Feel Good Factor in 30 days to share what had worked for her to others.
And now she is preparing to hold a seminar at the Grand Opera House, York as part of York International Women’s festival next month.
“I was approached by the Grand Opera House to do something for women and I jumped at the chance,” says Andrea.
The Change Your Life seminar is actually more of a workshop for women who are struggling with an aspect of their lives.
“It is very relaxed and informal – like me,” says Andrea. “It is in one of the side rooms at the OperaHouse and my aim is to give women something tangible to go away with but above all to give them understanding about why they feel the way they do. Once you understand you can take back control.”
Andrea says she has never looked back.
“I don’t even recognise that woman I was eight years ago, or the stories I was telling myself.”
As part of York International Women’s Festival Life Coach and The Yorkshire Post columnist Andrea Morrison, is running a Change Your Life seminar for women who want to regain control of their lives.
The event takes place at the Grand Opera House, York on March 3 at 10am Tickets, £35; Box Office, 0844 8713024; www.atgtickets.com/york
Andrea is also the author of Feel Good Factor in 30 Days.
Visit andreamorrison.co.uk for more details.
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