October 20, 2023
I love to create, and I love to explore various avenues to express my creativity.
A few hats I have worn – singer, songwriter, recording artist, sound engineer, writer, actor, make-up artist, Wing Chun Kung Fu devotee, meditator, runner, personal trainer, voice-over artist, stylist, flamenco dancer.
My family arrived in Australia in 1969, and I only spoke Spanish. My Spanish heritage is incredibly important to me and continues to flavlour most of what I do in my life, and the way I approach life. Art, beauty, passion, inclusion, bravery, are treasured ancestral aspirations, both from my Spanish and Australian ancestry.
Rebelliously, I left home at 16 and moved from the Gold Coast to Sydney, where music and art took hold of my life on a grand scale. I started my career as a make-up artist and combined that with music, which took me to fabulous places geographically, artistically, and aesthetically. Then in the late 80’s I travelled to India and Nepal and my life changed.
Music stayed with me and my love of fitness and athletics then became my other constant companions.
2002, I moved to Byron Bay, after my musical career in the USA took a dive and I found myself in deepest grief, depression, and at a complete loss as to my identity, as all had been stripped away and for the first time in my life – I was completely alone. PTS, horrendous migraines, and unshakable depression almost took me.
Fast forward to 2020, the year that the world changed, my life hit a low point that I could not have thought possible. My amazing mum died of a brain tumour. This is a BIG story, with many layers, however, three years on, and I am close to ‘thriving’. I am soooo grateful to be alive. I channelled suffocating grief into creating something that is so BEAUTIFUL and so healing, and filled with so much of my love and true heart, and that is my saviour.
I am still here, I have a story to share, and I now do believe that what I have lived through and the way I have taken steps to CHANGE my ‘story’, can maybe help others who find grief a challenge that feels too great.
I write, write, write, and keep writing, until the words become a far better narrative than the obsessive unhelpful thoughts that had become habitual. Meditation, EVERY day, sometimes several times a day. EXERCISE, especially when I have a voice that says ‘I’m too tired’!
Fast forward to 2020, the year that the world changed, my life hit a low point that I could not have thought possible. My amazing mum died of a brain tumour. This is a BIG story, with many layers, however, three years on, and I am close to ‘thriving’. I am soooo grateful to be alive. I channelled suffocating grief into creating something that is so BEAUTIFUL and so healing, and filled with so much of my love and true heart, and that is my saviour.
The DIARY and JOURNALS were not only a way for me to channel grief, they were also a way for me to channel deep, heartfelt gratitude to the wonderful family and friends who were incredibly supportive and helpful in the care of my mum and my sister and I, during that horrendous time. This was a GIFT that I created and gave to them.
I am still here, I have a story to share, and I now do believe that what I have lived through and the way I have taken steps to CHANGE my ‘story’, can maybe help others who find grief a challenge that feels too great.
The biggest lesson I have learned in my life is to trust your instincts! The times that I have second-guessed myself and my decisions, have usually made things difficult and lead to regret.
Walk away from ANYTHING that doesn’t ADD value to your life.
I am my own best friend, and I am my own ‘knight in shining armour’.
The world is full of AWESOME people so don’t worry about the rest.
Write your own story, and then write it again, and then write it AGAIN! It’s OK to change, to edit, to alter your language; it’s FUN and makes life an adventure!
From the moment I started creating my DIARY and Journals I had a vision of being absorbed by not only beautiful illustrations, but also beautiful words. Poetry is part of the way I express myself and I hadn’t seen a diary that incorporated poems in this way, so it made sense to me to create it and have that immediate inspiration; for my everyday life, as well as my creative life.
The other main point of uniqueness in terms of design, was I LOVE space, and so I eked out every millimetre of writing space available, keeping celebration days to a minimum, and visually discrete phases of the moon.
This year, I have taken the INSPIRATIONAL aspect up a notch, by introducing 9 extra pages of gentle prompts, that guide you in exploring the poetry, using them to catapult your own creative projects. The result is a really beautiful DIARY that inspires, encourages, and holds plenty of space for you, your magic, and your wild heart!
You’re awesome Anni, and I am so grateful for this opportunity, thank YOU!
I gained so much clarity around my business, my ‘story’, and the path that is lighting up for me; from answering these questions in preparation for the podcast “Finding Anni”. This was an unexpected gift, thank you Anni!
Focused distraction under the wing of creation, encouraged me to have compassion for what I was trying to accomplish – creating space
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