Preethi’s Story

I started off my professional life in Human Resources thinking that it would probably last the entire span of my professional life, but life as we know it had other plans. I was blessed with twin girls in 2008 and suddenly my career no longer mattered. I took a break when they were one year old, since I wanted to be there for them but also because a new dream was brewing just under the surface. I wanted to be an entrepreneur and, if I could help it, never work for someone else ever again. That’s how my bespoke bridal boutique Gown Town was born. I managed my twins on the one hand and ran my boutique out of one of my bedrooms where I met with clients and helped them get the ivory dress of their dreams. This set-up afforded me time to spend with my daughters, something I would have never had if I went back to corporate life. My business is now 11 years old and is a well-known brand in bridal circles. It suffered a setback due to Covid and the lockdown but is finding its legs yet again.

While I enjoyed meeting brides and their soon-to-be grooms, I endured several personal setbacks that left me feeling bereft and helpless. I began to search for a meaning to my life and a solution to my problems. That’s how alternate therapies came into my life. I started reading any book or articles I could get my hands on, I started watching You Tube videos and listening to experts speak about EFT, CBT, Hypnotherapy, NLP and all other alternate modes of getting to a more resourceful state. But what stuck with me most was hypnosis. I was fascinated with the concept of accessing a person’s subconscious to help them make changes to their lives and overcome their limiting beliefs. That fascination stuck with me and I eventually got my certification as a professional hypnotist. I now have clients come to me for issues from migraines to anxiety to a lack of confidence and I help them mediate through the complex web of their subconscious minds in trance, to get to their desired state. When people ask me what I do. I tell them I’m a bridal boutique owner and a hypnotist – something for the body and something for the mind. It brings me joy to see people “trance-form” when they come out of trance and in the weeks that follow. It gives my life a new purpose. There were several months that I had no income and lived off my savings and help from my immediate family. It was a scary time and something I would not wish for anyone. But what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger and so through the really bad days I kept on studying and writing my exams and meeting my bridal clients and looking for ways to grow my business.

I am still working towards a place I’d like to be financially, and I’m sure I’m on the right path towards that goal. I have the advantage that I am earning money while doing all the things that I love which brings me to the third part of the puzzle. Since I love writing I also do freelance content writing work for international clients. I write blog articles, fiction, e-books on a vast array of topics based on the client’s requirement. It almost sounds like fiction when one hears about all the things I do, in addition to being a mother to my twelve-year-old girls. But it is all true. I schedule my day in a way as to take care of the priorities in each of my businesses. I want to teach my children to be self-sufficient and to not ever be defeated no matter what the circumstances. I want to teach them to be complete individuals and eventually when love does find them it will be not to ‘complete’ them but to ‘complement’ them. That will be true lasting love that will endure the test of time.

There are challenging days but then there are also really ecstatic days. The work I do and the satisfaction I see on my client’s faces brings me an incomparable joy. It often reminds me of a question that I was asked in my marriage by my then husband – “Where will you go?”. It was a question meant to derail me and shed light on my faults and inadequacies. It was meant to disempower me so that I continued to feel like a creature of fate rather than the master of my own destiny. Standing tall with my girls now as a single mom, I’m glad I was asked that question. In the place I am in now I know exactly where I went from there and where I want to go even though I have “miles to go before I sleep”. New life – bring it on.

My heartfelt gratitude to my beautiful and loving daughters who are my strength, my parents for their unconditional love and my sister for being my steadfast rock through my stormy days and my darkest night.