Annie McDonnell

06/08/2022

Hi Everyone, happy Saturday.

I thought I’d share a quick update.

The book is still coming along, albeit slowly, with a few changes in direction in the past 6 months. I think I wildly underestimated the intensity of writing an actual book only X a gazillion trillion. It’s bloody hard, and it’s painful. But I’ve checked in with myself many times and the answer is always the same – suck it up sweetheart, one way or another, we are doing this thing. I’m (almost) positive the gold is in this evolving journey, however long it might take, as opposed to the destination of a completed manuscript . . .

In other news, June itself was an incredible month of focus, flurry, creativity and inspired action. It heralded the birth of my website, Powerfully Sober AND my transformative program, The Sacred Walk. Both are already insanely precious to me and I’m so proud, so overjoyed and excited. I know that for those to whom this speaks to, our work will be life changing – in Perspective, in Being, in Living and in Loving. It traverses way beyond the shackles of substance dependency and way beyond the notion of simply not drinking.

If you are curious about Powerfully Sober, here is the link to my website https://powerfullysober.com/

It was also my 3,000 day soberversary on July 1st and I was honoured to be a guest on The Intuitive Pull podcast, hosted by the divine Gisele Gambi. What an amazing blessing to have the opportunity to be a part of a podcast that shines a light on authenticity and joy, and the wholeness that is ALWAYS there, despite the inevitable failures, disappointments, regrets and uncertainties of this human life.

If The Intuitive Pull podcast beckons (and I highly recommend), you can find it here https://giselegambi.com.au/the-intuitive-pull/, or, if you would like to check out my episode, this is the link https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/the-intuitive-pull/powerfully-sober-UICid1-T5g4/

Have a fab weekend. Take care. Have fun.

Much love, Annie

00:58:15 - This is the story of Annie McDonnell who on 1 July 2022 is 3000 days, that's 8 years, powerfully sober.  This episode is a celebration of Annie…

02/11/2021

Here is #5 of the current prologue, the last piece. This is a moment in time that I can readily take myself to even now and feel the prickling, stifling cloak of hopelessness and helplessness, the loud thumping terror and panic of realising the dire reality of my situation. Yet, the very hellish-ness of it gifted me the divine connection that shifted everything. For that I am forever grateful.

24/10/2021

Here is #4 of the prologue first draft. Despite the content I feel enormous gratitude, like my heart could burst. If not for that, there would not be this.
Have a wonderful week ahead friends x

18/10/2021

Here is the next little extract ( #3) from the first draft prologue. This happened over 7 years ago now, but it feels like just yesterday as I read it aloud. There's something about reading it aloud that acknowledges the sacredness of that deep discomfort with self that i carried for so many decades. I'm so proud of the me before, and the me beyond.

10/10/2021

This is the next few paragraphs of the current prologue for anyone interested in following along. It's crazy that I'm doing this, it kind of makes me laugh given how earnestly I've tried to fly under the radar. So, at the very least i am giving myself a giggle.
Thank you for bearing witness x

03/10/2021

Sharing the first couple of paragraphs from the current prologue for anyone who might be interested in following along (I do talk about addiction, from my experience, so please be aware of this before listening). Thoughts and feedback welcome :)
The plan at this point is not to focus on the addiction. The essence is around what comes after, when that perceived protective outer wrapper is peeled away and you are left suddenly so very exposed. How and why did I get here? What comes next? What is possible? Who the hell am I? Do I really want to know . . . . ?
The exploration is around what I convince myself to be true/real, who I need to be for these beliefs to be true/real, and what I conveniently leave out along the way to support my story. And right now, who and what will I lose as I elevate and expand in every way to my true/real freedom?? Eeeek!
To be honest, it's a joyful life work in progress.

24/04/2018

Just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not there. Sending hugs to all the souls needing a little comfort today ❤️

09/01/2018

I coach people to re-discover what truly lights them up.
Then we go make it happen.

09/01/2018

She wasn’t built to fit my image of her, she is who she is in her own image. A human being. A woman. My mother.

Up until a few years ago it was impossible to untangle my feelings toward her. I loved her, BUT what I held as rigidly true is this – she had wronged me when I needed her most, she abandoned me, she was needy, self-absorbed, gossipy, emotionally unavailable, she 'made me' impatient, anxious, frustrated and irritated, and most of all, she was oblivious to the obvious.

Clearly, she did not have the capacity to be the mother I so desired.

This may have been the container for our relationship for the rest of time. But a strange thing started to happen when I stopped hiding from myself and began to embark on my own deep inner work.

I SAW her. I saw her as the little girl, with her own rocky relationship with her mother, my grandmother, who in turn had lost her mother in a tragic accident at an early age. I saw her as the hopeful young woman, married early and having children before she was twenty. I saw her fears and desires and coping mechanisms as life turned complicated and she worked to do the best she could under the circumstances. And as I allowed myself the clarity to see without judgement, all expectations dissolved and in their place a space opened that began to fill with deep, abundant compassion and love.

Relationships can be complicated, or not. As I have learned, things are not always as they seem, and I saw simply what I chose to see, from my own view point, with only the pieces of information that I deemed suitable to fix my reality. The information served its purpose to fit the system, to create the reality, that gave me the perfect result – staying frustrated, hurt, angry, disconnected.

Truth is, my mother didn’t really have a chance. If she wanted to be graced with MY approval, not only would SHE have to change, she would have to change specific to my ideal, without ANY knowledge that a) such a thing existed, and b) there were rules.

Today, there is NOTHING that could shift the fierceness of my love, or my willingness to show it and to share it with my mother. It knows no boundaries. It is not her capacity that has changed, it is mine. And that has made all the difference in the world.