Tears streamed down Simone Outteridge’s face as the frustration of losing her car keys reduced this once strong, confident and successful woman to hysterical crying.
But the breakdown proved pivotal – the realisation she was crying over spilt milk made her see the stranglehold depression had on her life.
She decided something needed to change, so the former national account manager for a global pharmaceutical company decided she would pull herself out of her deep depression one small step at a time.
“The driven, determined and fun-loving woman I was disappeared and withdrew into a world of darkness,” the West Footscray resident said.
“Being forced to get out of bed each day to look after my [then three-year-old] son was the only way that life was still knocking at my door.”
“You do have the ability to change your own life and the way you think … it’s so empowering.”
Before her breakdown, the young mother had recently witnessed her own mother’s untimely death through cancer. She had quit her job four months earlier so she could juggle nursing her mum and looking after her son, Jake.
But the loss of her mother, the pressures of motherhood and wanting to return to work became too much for Ms Outteridge to bear.
“Once mum died, everything fell down,” she said.
“There were days of uncontrollable crying and others where I’d feed my son and then go back to bed.”
A psychologist helped her understand the grieving process and then she drew on mindset tools she had been studying since she was in her early 20s.
“You do have the ability to change your own life and the way you think,” she said. “It’s so empowering.
“That one per cent shift in your thinking makes a huge change,” she said. “If mum was here, she’d say, ‘Stop being ridiculous and get on with it’.”
Ms Outteridge now runs her own business, The Liberated Leader, teaching women mindset tools and strategies to positively change their lives.
“It’s so easy to fall into depression and anxiety,” she said. “We always try to live up to certain expectations. Life can get overwhelming for women. But it’s about being connected and self aware.”
Now the mother of two young boys, she is determined to help other women struggling with the same battles, travelling across the country “helping women free themselves from negative thoughts that can hold them back”.
Details: facebook.com/observeshiftcreate
