A door literally opened this week that gave me some powerful knowledge. I had travelled to Brisbane to hear Samantha Wills speak about why she has closed down her $10 million jewellery line.
Samantha was the ultimate success story – she had gone from making jewellery on her dining room table to sell at markets, to being the darling Aussie living in New York with fabulous hair and a breathtaking apartment. She was on the labels of bottles of booze and the star of countless ads and started an organisation to help empower women. She seemed to have it all. Except she did not.
The glamazon stood in front of hundreds of women and humbly told us of her ups and downs behind the scenes with her business life and the lessons she has learned. The whole room gasped as she told us her boyfriend of three years had cheated on her. When Samantha asked him how long the affair had been going on he told her he had cheated on her with eight women.
The jewellery designer went to a darkplace for a long time where she doubted everything she thought she knew. She staggered through life while keeping up her appearance as the golden girl.
“I could barely form a sentence and my friends would come over and force me out of bed while they changed my sheets before I flopped back into bed,” she says. “I would just sit on the floor of the shower crying and just trying to breathe. The pressure of grief along with keeping a business going can feel overwhelming. So, there I was in grief. It felt too dark and murky but if we do not touch the bottom, we do not feel the entirety of it all. In the dark we truly see ourselves.”
After much soul searching, she decided it was time for a new chapter. The new chapter is sharing her wisdom.
The night I travelled to Brisbane in the pouring rain to hear her speak I arrived at the golf club to find myself lost. I opened a door to the wrong building for an elegant slip of a goddess to run past me out of the rain. As she swept past, I exclaimed, “My God! You are Samantha Wills!”
She turned and thanked me for coming to listen to her speak. I was in a panic we were late, but Samantha was calm as we walked in the rain to find the room where the function was being held.
I was star struck and giddy as we came to an actual crossroad and Samantha turned to me and said, “I talk a lot about crossroads in your life tonight so it is really interesting we are standing at one.” She gave me a warm hug and set fire to a little flame inside me that urged me to trust my intuition and to embrace the tough times as there is a higher plan for us all.
I leave you with a quote from Samantha: “The universe only ever has three answers – 1. yes, 2. not right now, 3. something better is in store for you.”
Live a life without fear and embrace your crossroads.
