For most of my life, I thought I'd done the hard work. Single mother of four. Attended university between school runs. A career in social services, running programs for women navigating their own challenges. I understood how to hold space for others.
I just hadn't learned how to hold space for myself.
At 52, menopause brought everything undone. Autoimmune conditions arrived one after another. My moods swung wildly - rage to tears to numbness, sometimes within hours.
Sleep disappeared. My thinking felt clouded. My doctor prescribed SSRIs, my therapist offered valuable support - both helped. But nothing touched that constant 'wired but tired' feeling that permeated every single day. That deep exhaustion of a nervous system that simply wouldn't settle.
Then I found myself at a five-day health retreat in the Gold Coast hinterland. For three days, I planned my escape (true story!).
On the fourth night, watching the sunset over the ocean between the gum trees, I heard kookaburras laughing overhead.
They'd been there every night, but my body had been so dysregulated I hadn't noticed them.
Something in me unclenched. I took a real breath, my shoulders finally dropped. My body remembered what calm actually felt like.
Then, slowly, other things returned. Energy that lasted past 2pm. Conversations where I actually heard what people said. Laughter that wasn't forced. The real me, coming back online.
That moment sparked Soma. Not as a business idea, but as a necessity - how could I keep this feeling when I returned to real life? You can't live at a retreat…
But maybe you can create rituals that anchor you, even in the chaos. First for myself. Now for every woman navigating this season.
Soma isn't about fixing yourself. It's about supporting your nervous system in finding its natural rhythm again.
It's the ritual I needed then. The anchor I want to offer you now.
Tarnia x
