Overcoming adversity is no easy feat – whether it be facing terminal illnesses, starting an entrepreneurial journey or performing athletic tests of endurance and strength – it takes a certain type of person to be able to overcome, maintain a positive attitude and prevail.

Are we born with certain traits that determine how well we ‘roll with the punches’, overcome adversity and achieve success in all areas of life – whether that be wellness, business or lifestyle? 

Is it an inherited attitude or is it a learned skill we are all capable of gaining?

Unconventional Life caught up with the extraordinary Tori Holmes, wellness entrepreneur and wellness ‘doula’, co-founder of Nectar Juicery, the youngest women to row an ocean and two-time author, to talk about her incredible journey of overcoming adversity, finishing what she’s started and coming out victorious in life. 

We were lucky enough to get a glimpse into this woman’s impressive life story and how she has managed to overcome serious adversities, achieve success and maintain a deeply abiding level of self-trust along the way. 

Tori’s incredible journey in this lifetime is a testimony to her grit and determination – including some pretty colossal ups and downs. Tori talks openly – for the first time – about the experience of having both breast and cervical cancer as a 35 year old, and how she didn’t see it as a setback or a life sentence, instead she saw it as a life re-alignment. 

“In some ways, I feel like I’ve had cancer a couple of times so I can go through this route… every time it’s a life-level, a check-in – it’s been like – what’s working, what’s not working… am I in alignment.” 

Her battle with Cancer was not her first experience of braving adversity and coming out the other end victorious, it simply reflects the nature of her fiercely determined personality – “if I say I’m going to do something… my track record is 100%, I do what I say what I’m going to do”. That track record includes her experience of completing a rowing marathon against 60ft of wave breaks in the Caribbean Ocean, with broken ribs she sustained along the way. 

Along with the growth in her character as a result of this experience (not to mention a badass story to share for years to come), the rowing tour was also instrumental in cementing Tori’s interest in the wellness field and her interest in nutrition and ‘living’ food. It was during this experience that she realized how strong the mind-body connection was while her body was being compromised and starved of proper nutrition – “I really noted my emotional connection towards food and actually understanding what it feels like to have fuel in your body”. 

It was from this experience that her successful wellness businesses stemmed, along with her book “Beauty Water”. Tori is an advocate for wellness and helping others to find their own wellness through Ayurvedic and alternative principles and the success of her businesses and her books is a testimony to her passion and knowledge in these areas, along with her determined attitude.  

Tori talks about how being in alignment and in flow with what she was trying to create was the biggest secret to her success and ability to have full trust in herself – “it was a physical feeling and a knowing….we had a way to just navigate the no’s and adversity and lack of belief and hold the vision.” It is this full trust in self and flow state that enabled her to move through the knockbacks and continue with her path.

She gives advice to readers who are starting out a new venture, project or journey on how to cultivate that self trust and to notice the difference between being in or out of alignment with what you’re trying to do. To know the difference between when it’s time to put things at stake, or to slow down. Tori tells us that when she was feeling aligned with what she was doing, “when I got no’s, there was such an internal belief that it didn’t penetrate”, contrary to when she wasn’t in alignment – “when I was trying to do things from my head and not my heart, I couldn’t physically attach to it in an embodied way, and when i got negative feedback, it would have penetrated me.” 

Along with this, understanding that when things are in flow “to embody that and move with it” – rather than to “have a sense that everything is heavy and everything is hard”. She encourages readers to be able to see the difference between the two and be able to re-align their choices and path when things are not inflow or need a course correction. 

Tori also strongly recommends meditation and encourages the readers to find their own style of meditation – their own ‘language’ – in order to strengthen their ability to trust their intuition and recognize when they are in alignment.

Giveaway!

Tori is offering one lucky reader the chance to win her book “Beauty Water” In her book, Tori  has developed ways to turn the simple act of hydration into a self-care ritual. As part of a timely conversation on beauty by ways of nutrition and supplements, she created 50 recipes for water-based elixirs that improve vitality, support longevity, and aid our bodies’ natural recovery mechanisms. She uses everything from common herbs like nettle, mint, and chamomile, to supplements like adaptogens, chlorophyll, and CBD oil to create elixirs for everyday use.

To be entered to win the giveaway, click here. A winner will be selected next week.

Looking to Connect with Tori?

Check out her Instagram at  Toriholmeslife