I’m The Onion

The question everyone wants to ask me is, “Why are you The Onion?” so I’ll put you out of your misery… I was attending a fundraising event for children with cerebral palsy during which I was offered a place on a course for personal development. To say I was sceptical about personal development at the time is an understatement, but it was free and in a five star hotel. Never one to turn down a freebie, I went along. We did all the usual personal development stuff and then came to an exercise where we had to say what we were and what we wanted to do in our lives. I hadn’t got a clue what to say so when it came to my turn I blurted out, “I’m an onion and I want to rule the world.” After that, I realised there must have been some inspiration behind my outburst so I started to think about an onion and what it represented. I came to discover that I really was an onion because I have many layers and they need to be peeled back to reveal what is inside. I’m a wife, mother, grandmother, speaker, coach and mentor, but I’m still the same person inside. I’ve got something to tell you. Ready? You’re an onion too! Well, we’re all onions really. We all have many layers to us and we don’t always want to look beneath the surface or peel back a layer because we’re afraid of what it might reveal. In real life situations we cover ourselves with layers. In fact, we’re so good at lying to ourselves that it becomes second nature to lie to each other. If we do that, we’re only hurting ourselves by not being real.

The Formal Stuff

Here’s some more stuff about The Onion that you might not know:

• Former sales trainer for an international financial institution
• Ex member of the Armed Forces
• Former England hockey player
• Former British gymnast
• 2nd female in Britain to become a licenced door supervisor
• Founder and active spokesperson for Angel Wings (a children’s charity intent on raising funds to create and develop a conductive education centre for children with neurological disorders)
• Member of the Professional Speakers’ Association
• Member of the Academy of High Achievers
• Instrumental in the growth of two national business networking organisations within the central UK area…and beyond