I'll be honest - my teenage years were agony. I hated school. I got bullied. I was told that I was: fat, ugly and stupid. I believed it and wore all three titles.

The day I left school was one of ELATION. Relief. It was over. I could be FREE. Or so I thought…

I may have left the bullies behind but instead I continued to bully myself on a daily basis by telling myself that I wasn’t good enough, attractive enough and more. I hated what looked back at me in the mirror. I felt drab, unseen and forgettable.

3rd September 2003 – my body gave out on me. It had had enough of the constant self-induced torment. I was admitted to hospital. I came out 2 weeks later – in a wheelchair. I'd been diagnosed with CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome).

I had to give up full-time teaching and trained to be a Colour Consultant to supplement my salary. It was fun and I was passionate about helping women to see their true attractiveness. (Yes, I do see the irony).

I went on to train to be an Image Consultant - it just sort of happened. The problem was that I kept very quiet about how self-conscious I was about my appearance. Can you think of any other job where you're judged more on what you look like than as an IMAGE consultant? I'd blindly walked into my worst nightmare…judgement on my appearance.

My Inner-Bully was having an absolute ball! I was getting great feedback from clients but I didn’t feel good enough because I was so self-critical. My business became more of an expensive hobby because I didn’t have the self-confidence to "put myself out there".

I was stuck in the starting block. I'd spent a fortune on training and was getting more and more frustrated with myself as the months went by. I either needed to jack it all in or do something about it.

The turning point. I was still ill; in a relationship with a man I didn’t trust; my business was a flop; I was broke and living at home with my parents. I was beyond frustrated. I hated myself.

Having just got out of hospital, my colleagues bought me a massage. I went along to have a massage and that was the day my life changed forever.

The massage therapist asked me if I had done any “emotional work” on myself. Emotional work? What on earth was she talking about?

I was open to A.N.Y.T.H.I.N.G. I had had enough of feeling sick, tired and unhappy.

That day, I didn’t have a massage: I had EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique). From that day on, I realised that in order to heal my body, I had to heal the relationship with myself. I booked in for a series of sessions.

In one session, I remember being asked to look in a mirror and say something nice about myself. I couldn’t even do the first part

I couldn’t bring myself to look in the mirror. I was literally disgusted with the face that looked back.

As the tears rolled down my cheeks, I vowed to do whatever it took to transform the relationship I had with myself.

This was the start of my journey. I read every book I could get my hands on to do with the body/mind connection and increasing confidence. I hired a life coach. I trained to become an EFT practitioner (at the time just for my own healing).

I not only improved my health but increased my confidence and self-esteem.

Things started to shift BIG time: I saw myself through fresh and loving eyes. I said no to toxic relationships. I took up new hobbies. I signed up to a dating website and started to date again.