11/05/2026
The most hollow I ever felt wasn't when I failed. It was when I finally made it. I was charge nurse of a 40-bed surgical ward, and I remember standing there thinking: is this really it?
I had worked half my life for that role. I was good at it, genuinely good. But a year and a half in, the exhaustion wasn't just physical. It was something deeper. Something I didn't have words for yet. 😔
I was at the hospital from 6am to 6pm most days, and even when I finally got home, work came with me. The ward never really left. And somewhere in that relentlessness, a thought I kept pushing down started getting louder:
"I don't think this was ever actually for me."
𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁.
At the same time, my eldest son, who was in Year 12, was battling a major clinical depression. He was on the maximum dose of antidepressants, suicidal, overwhelmed, trying to fit into a world that didn't fit him. And I, the registered nurse, the leader, the one who was supposed to have answers... had none. 💔
That shook me to the core. I started questioning everything. My choices. My direction. Every "should" I had built my life around.
I stepped back from leadership and moved into theatre as an anaesthetic nurse. But five years on, we were still riding that rollercoaster. My son struggling, me searching.
✨ 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗱.
I attended a conference and heard Dr John Demartini speak. I went along to his free evening event, and everything he said landed like something I already knew but had never been given permission to say. I knew in that moment: I had to take my son to his Breakthrough Experience.
So I booked it. Right then and there.
My son and I attended our first Breakthrough Experience together in Brisbane in 2005, and it changed both of us profoundly. He experienced a deep shift in how he saw himself and the world. And so did I. It remains the single best decision I have ever made. 🌟
𝗜 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱𝗻'𝘁 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗲𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵.
I dove into every advanced program I could find. A few pivots and ten years later, I became a Master Certified Demartini Facilitator, one of only a handful in the world. I went on to deliver workshops across Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Dublin, helping thousands of people transform how they perceive themselves and their lives. I've also assisted Dr John and facilitated at over 50 of his Breakthrough Events across Australia, Dublin, London and Johannesburg. 🌍
And through all of that work, mine and others', one insight hit harder than almost anything else.
💡 𝗡𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝘆 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲.
I came from a long line of medicos. My father was a doctor, my mother a nurse, my brothers a physio and a dentist. My father died when I was 23. I admired him deeply. And without realising it, I had spent years trying to make him proud, trying to live up to Daddy.
That realisation cracked something wide open. I was able to release an injected value I had unknowingly built my entire life around. And for the first time, for the very first time, I gave myself permission to dream about the life I actually wanted. 🌅
𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝗜 𝗱𝗼 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜 𝗱𝗼 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆.
Because I know what it feels like to be successful on the outside and quietly lost on the inside. I know what it's like to be capable, competent, and completely disconnected from your own true north. And I know, without question, that when you uncover what actually matters to you and align your life with those real values, everything changes.
The fog lifts. The exhaustion softens. And you start walking a path that feels like yours, because it finally is. 🧭
🎁 That's why I'm offering a free Fulfilment Strategy Session.
This is a private, one-on-one conversation where we get clear on what's actually driving the disconnection or dissatisfaction you're feeling, and map out what alignment with your real values could look like for you.
Sometimes just having the right conversation changes everything.
If this resonates with you, I'd love to have a conversation.
👇 If you're ready to stop living someone else's version of your life and start walking toward your own true north, click the link below to apply for your free Fulfilment Strategy Session.
https://laurahughes.com.au/strategy-session/
