Alice Dartnell

A big thing for me was struggling to identify with my Japanese side. This not only created issues with my relationship with my mum, because of language and cultural barriers, but it also caused my own insecurities and self-doubt. (I am now very proud of my Japanese heritage, but this led to emotions I wasn’t equipped to deal with as a teenager). Because of this, I was often labelled a troublemaker at school. I even got expelled from my lessons just a few weeks before my GSCEs! Despite actually scoring well on the GCSEs, I did manage to spectacularly fail my AS levels. I worked extra hard to get into a good university (the first from both my mum and dad’s family, whoop! You’ve always got to celebrate your wins!), and that is when I started to love education. In my final term of university, I learned that I was in fact dyslexic, rather than just a “trouble-maker.” My teenage years and early adulthood were plagued with severe depression, and I endured battles with an eating disorder that consumed my life for a decade. Then, after getting married, I became a military wife and was so proud of him and felt like such a team… but had to endure having zero contact with my partner for months at a time when he was on deployment. I won’t lie, it was tough being a military wife! My life has been littered with a lot of setbacks (Oh, let’s not forget I also ‘failed’ at being a landlady in my early 20s, as well as a business owning a bar in SE Asia, and did I mention that I lost my job on the same day the offer on our first home got accepted?! All that excitement and build-up, only to have to let it go… It was a lot). So, with all these setbacks, the thing that pushed me through was mindset work and personal development…. And that is what led me to realising knowing what I really wanted to do. I wanted to help others tackle their own setbacks and be the support that I needed and create a life they love. When I started my coaching diploma in 2016, I didn’t look back. I was focused on creating my own life by design, not by default, and was determined to help others do the same But I still had hurdles. I won’t pretend the road to building a successful business I love has been plain sailing… I attempted to start my business in 2019, resulting in a false start (my burnout forced me to prioritise my health and take a break) and my marriage unexpectedly during 2020 when we were all going through the pandemic. So, no, my story isn’t perfect. I’m not perfect. But I know it’s also possible to restart and redefine your life, on your own terms. I learned that a good life doesn’t come from avoiding the bad times, but from learning to overcome them and become better from them. I’m not a product of my past or any situation and neither are you. I had to realise that I still had the power to create the life I wanted – just like you do!