Just before we head into today's episode, we'd like to acknowledge and pay respect to Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. They're the traditional custodians of the lands, the waterways and the skies all across Australia. We thank you for sharing and for caring for the land on which we are able to learn. We pay respects to elders past and present, and we share our friendship and our kindness.
She's on the Money, She's on the Money.
Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast Millennials who want Financial Freedom. Welcome back to another shot back Money Diary Monday, where we get to chat to one of our community members, learn about them, their story, their journey and all of the challenging bits in between. Victoria, as always, I'm giving you hello this week, I have a really good one.
Oh that's shocking. I can't believe you've got another good podcast for us, Jess.
I know, it's almost like there's millions of amazing stories and we have not enough times don't hear them all. But it's a little short and sweet teaser, so I'm excited to learn a little more our diarist says, a year ago, I was in hospital, just trying to survive. Now I'm earning six figures and planning to fire. This is my money story.
Oh my gosh, from hospital to six figures. Oh I did this and that. I have to know more. That's a they sent in.
That's it.
So we didn't get anything else. No, like, oh I did this and that.
Okay, cool, I'm really excited to learn about them. A little content warning before we get into it, though, We're going to be chatting about mental health, specifically around eating disorders. If that's something that's a little bit challenging for you right now, give this episode a miss because we're going to dive into it.
I have so many quest gents, money darist. As always, you're hanging in the wings. Welcome to the show. We are so excited to have you.
Thank you so much. I'm so excited to be here.
Oh my gosh, so are we. Mainly because I hate it when people don't give me enough information and I'm like, excuse me, you can't just drop that and walk away.
I knew I knew it would be something like that.
I think when I purposely wrote it, I was like Ooh, I wonder what they'll think.
Haha.
It's like she's gone fishing for us, Jess. And it worked.
It absolutely worked. You got me full client and singer.
QUI love it. Let's get into it though. First question as always money darist, Can you tell us a little bit about your money story?
Okay, So growing up I was never good with money. I kind of had parents on the opposite end of the spectrum. So I had a father who did really well and worked really hard for his money, and we never had to kind of worry about anything.
Growing up.
We weren't like extremely privileged, but we were very comfortab probably more than comfortable. However, when I was in high school, my parents divorced and my mom was always very bad with money and she never worked, so she provided for us as a family, and so when they divorced, it was a couple year long divorce and there was a lot of fighting about money. My dad had a lot of investment properties, so there was always that like mixed
kind of view on money. My dad was always like, if property, save your money, do this, and he was very very frugal. My dad could live with nothing, but my mom loved to shop and it's just they were just completely different. So I actually really loved to shop, and I kind of saw that, well, take money while you have it and have fun. And I never truly adopted my dad's kind of view on money.
I didn't listen to my day growing up either. And he was an accountant and like so good with it, and he used to be like, Victoria, you need to do AB and C. And I'd be like, I'm not listening.
Yeah.
I feel like that's very very common with our parents growing up, that we never truly listened, even though we know that they're probably really right.
What would they and their financial security know about money, honestly?
Right, exactly? And growing up I never really had consistent jobs.
I've actually when I went to UNI, I went on exchange for a year and then I came back and then I went back overseas and worked for the Walt Disney Company.
Oh what, how cool is that you worked for Disney?
Yeah? Yeah, what did you do?
Is that too pervy? Would that give it away?
Oh?
No? No?
So I worked actually in Animal Kingdom, So I worked in the parks. They have an international kind of college program, exchange kind of situation.
So I worked in Animal Kingdom.
Well, I also worked all around other parks because you can actually pick up shifts. But I worked in merchandise at the parks and that was really fun.
For a year.
Oh my gosh, how cool.
Yeah, So basically I never had consistent income.
I never like I was moving overseason coming back, and then I was just trying to get settled.
To get whatever job I could.
My very first full time job was I think like forty four thousand, and I stayed with that for a year and I can go more to it later, but my health during that time wasn't the best and that led me to go part time. And essentially until now, I've never had a full time job. I've never saved. I've always just you know, spent what I could. Yeah, I haven't really bothered to save apart from when I was in that one full time job where I actually ended up saving around twenty two thousand dollars.
What I haven't ever bothered saving or just saved a capsule twenty two kdus all right, no problems.
That was the only time I saved, and it was because I didn't know how long I could do this job.
So it was kind of that like get through mentality.
Just you need to have some kind of saving buffer, and then I spent all that savings when I wasn't working fair.
All right, money diarist, I want to know more about this six figure job. What do you do for work? How much money do you earn?
So? I am an independent support worker working with one family. In particular, I work with a kind of high needs eleven year old boy with complex disability, so he has one on one care basically twenty four seven.
As a special human You are thank you.
It is hard work, but honestly, I'm pretty privileged to be able to be a part of his story and help his family, and.
It's rewarding, amazing.
And what when you say six figures to be really noisy, what does that mean?
I know exactly.
Yeah, yeah, so it will be depending on how if I produce more hours, but it'll be between one twenty and one.
Thirty k okay.
So I want to know the specifics of this as well. When you say you're a support worker for an eleven year old, that's a super special job. But yeah, how do you get paid?
So?
Are you paid by that family? Are you paid by an agency?
Like?
How does that work? How does this family get you as a part of their team.
Yeah, So essentially the family found me through my previous job. I actually worked as a professional organizer and I came to help unpack their house and she realized that I had a background in behavioral science and I'm a current nursing student, and she was really interested in that as well as she was really impressed by my work ethic, and she asked if I would spend some time with her son, and then she offered me the job through
that way. But essentially, I'm paid through the NDIA. I'm independent, so I have an ABN. I'm a soul trader.
Very cool. I love that story because everybody phones support workers in different ways or like maybe they advertised or maybe you actually work for an agency. So I'm always a bit pervy when it comes to stuff like that because everybody in this industry seems to have such a different journey. But then also if you're not privy to that industry, you have no idea how these things come
to fruition, and it's such a special industry. Anyway, I won't go on about that because we have to keep on with these questions money direst I want to know what is your big money goal.
Okay, so obviously my big money goal is to retire early.
Oh yeah, I mean you did dangle the lure of and I'm working towards fire in your email. And for those of you who don't know, fire is financial independence retire early? Is that not?
Yes?
And how is that going to work for you? My friend?
So basically, what I'll be using is investing in shares, mainly exchange traded funds to basically get some passive income working for me, so that way I don't actually have to depend on full time work, and I mean I don't have to retire, but it gives me that flexibility. And I've always loved the idea of having that financial freedom and having the choice to make whatever decision I wanted to.
I'm obsessed with you. I love this and I love your mindset. When I talk to a lot of people about retirement, I think that they make this assumption that retirement means that you no longer work and that you take up golf and maybe you're really good at gardening.
But the reality of the situation is actually it means you're completely financially independent and you can do whatever you want, like if you want to keep working part time, or go and do some volunteer work, or just keep on keeping on, knowing that you could quit your job any day you like, because you don't rely on that income. Like, that's what financial independence is. That's what I guess retirement means, because I think we really need to change this perception
that retirement's in age. It's not. It's a number. The second you have that number in your bank account, or in your investments or in the way that you are running your life, you're actually going to have so much more financial freedom. And I think that there's just this misconception retirement sixty five. Right. So the next question I think you answered before because you said ETFs. But my friend, do you have any investments and if so, what are they? Please? Juicy details?
Okay, So it's funny because I feel bad in saying that, but I haven't technically started investing yet.
That's okay.
A part of that is because I started this job around a month and a week ago.
So oh my gosh, congratulations.
Yeah, thank you. So I will make my first investment next week.
And at the moment, I think I do love Vanguard, so I'll be sticking with one of those ETFs.
Probably they're diversified the high growth.
Option, just because that's a great way to be automatically diversified straight off the bat, and then obviously further on I can go a little bit more niche if i'd lack, but I'd love to have that diversification straight off the bat.
I love that and the fact that so many people that are going to be listening to this money daring. Oh of course she already in and you're like, no, no, no, like this is the plan. How did you start learning about that? I mean you've mentioned Vanguard, which is a very common ETF provider here in Australia. Where did you learn about Vanguard? How did you start that journey?
So it's funny, it started probably four years ago when I actually got my first full time job that I was on that forty four k salary.
I read The Barefoot Investor, which.
As we all do, I do, and I've known a little bit about it before. But I always thought stocks to be very risky and you have to have so much knowledge, and you have to be a banker, and like you have to be this old man and know everything there is to do about investing. But I read that and that kind of got me excited and started to learn about personal finance. And then since then, I've basically just been consuming everything. I watch a lot of
YouTube videos about investing, obviously, podcasts, you guys. I've read quite a few books, so I love like specifically fire books.
There's some great ones out there, and I'm.
Just always reading about it like I love it so much, Like I would love to just like do that as my full time job, be like a finfluencer.
If you've heard of.
That, I have.
Surprisingly, Yeah, I consume just a lot of stuff online.
I actually created personal finance Instagram.
Oh my god, can you please send it to me? I'm going to follow you? Do I already follow you. I don't know what it is.
No, you probably don't follow me. It's not that big. I just started getting back into it. But it's saving with Jess, but instead of with it's just a W so saving w Yes.
Oh my god. I want everyone to go and follow you because you sound so sweet and your journey is just starting and I feel like that's so relatable. But next question, let's move on. I feel like this is going to be a no because you haven't mentioned it thus far, but you never know, my friend. Do you have any debts?
No, so ironly have Well, technically I have my HEX which technically it's forty one thousand.
Oh my gosh. So tell me a little bit about what you studied.
So I have a degree in behavioral science, so psychology, and essentially the reason why my hex stat is so high there is because I took an exchange here and we were able to get a loan as well, so that's why my debt is a little bit higher. And also I'm a current nursing student, so I'm about to start my second semester of a graduate entry program, so it's two years.
Oh my god. So you're just an all around cool human doing cool things and smashing it out of the park. I love this.
You're so nice.
Just keep talking, all right, sorry, Like you're also really pretty, and I think you're really nice.
What else?
What else can we say, Jess, If you've got any like really nice things to throw in there? Very smart of course, yeah, obviously, yep, honest kind all of those things. But let's get into the next question, because I feel like this is one of our favorites because there's always a really colorful response money Dires, Do you use shot back?
So, yes, I have you shot back.
So my very first shot back was me switching over my phone plan. I actually saved a bunch of money. I was on a contract and I switched to a different provider and I actually got my first month free and I loved it.
Yeah.
I didn't even know you could get phone plans on shop pack.
Here.
I am being like, oh my gosh, you just buy stuff on there and you're like, no, no, like the phone plans through there.
Yeah, it was through a little provider called Circles Life, and it was great. It was such a good deal compared to my previous phone Dylan. Actually I posted it on the Facebook group I think, yeah, and it got a bit of traction.
I think, oh my gosh, how cool. I didn't even know you could do phone plans through shot back. And we literally work with them and I find out something new about them every week when we speak to your money I's someone was like how though, Like, how does that work? It's genius. I feel like everybody can save money on things that they're already spending money on, Like it's not even a hey, go and pay this and
then you get a discount. It's like you were going to change your PHWN plan anyway, you got a better deal and you got money back money in anyway. Sounds like you've got some pretty good money habits. Money darist, what are your best money habits?
I think my best money habit is that I'm just very personally interested in personal finance and my own money, and that I'm always looking to learn new things. And you know what do people do investing in? You know what a ways to save money. I'm just I think my knowledge is my best kind of money habit. Like I just realized how privileged I am to know as much as I do and have the background that I do to be able to, you know, make the best money choices for myself.
That's a really sweet money habit. I really like that. That's really kind. But to flip this and bring down the mood again, what is your worst money habit?
So I feel like my worst money habit is that I can be quiet impulsive in my purchases.
So I'm a lot better at it now.
Okay I say better, but a lot better than I have been previously. But if I get really interested in something, then I'm very much inclined to just go out and buy like a bunch of things like hobbies, for example. I'll just go out and buy everything that I need for that hobby, and then like a month later, you know that hobby doesn't exist, doesn't That.
Happens to me all the time, all the time. Was so I'm going to get really good at this. I'm a genius, and then like next week someone's like, are you still doing that? And I'm like, no, that's not happening anymore.
It's like, don't ask me please.
Yeah, but I needed all of the stuff for it, right.
Everything, Yeah, always, all right.
I have a lot of questions for you, but we do have to ask one more question before we go to a quick break, and that question is money. Grist. If we forced you to give your money habits a great, what would you grade yourself.
I was thinking about this and I was really wondering what to say. I feel like maybe I want to say BE minus.
You can say B minus, but you're gonna have to tell me why.
So I feel like I'm gonna say B minus because I have really good foundations and I have the knowledge, but I haven't been the best at implementing it in the past.
Well, yes and no.
I have been able to save and you know, do some good things in the past, but I haven't really really buckled down and started it. Like I've known about investing since I was twenty, and you know, I've had five years like that compound interest is killing me. So I want to give myself a B minus because I've wasted a couple of years of you know, not really knuckling down and taking advantage of the time in the market.
I would not call that time wasted. I would say that you were using that time to get comfortable with the idea of investing and educating yourself and being on that journey. And I think a lot of us are on that journey because we get messages from the Sheese on the Money community and we've existed what jess for like four years now, which is crazy to think about.
We get messages from people They're like, I've been in your Facebook group from the very beginning and I've been hearing you telling me that investing is important, that I need to prioritize it, but I haven't started it. Why am I so silly? And it's like you're not like
you're on that journey. And if you didn't spend that time getting comfortable with that idea and you just jumped into it at the very beginning, I guarantee you would have made a decision that doesn't sit well with you, and you might have been like, oh, like this makes me feel uncomfortable. I don't want to engage in it in the long term. And the plan is to not have just engaged with it over the last few years, my friend, It is to engage with it for the
rest of your life. So if that's how long that took, that's cool, that's all right, because we've got literally the rest of your life. And look how much compound interest you're going to get out of that. Like, let's focus on that side of it, and the fact that you already know where you're going to invest, what you're going to invest in, and how you're going to allocate your cash, like you are miles, like millions of miles ahead of so many people.
That's nice to hear. Thank you.
All Right, we're going to go to a quick break and then when we come back, we have a lot of questions because you baited us and you got us.
Good you did, and I'm mad about it, and I feel like I still haven't got the juicy details. Don't go anywhere. All right, we are back Money Diarist. We are jumping straight into it. No structured questions here, there are no rules. In the After the Break Money Diaries segment, you said that you had been in hospital and now you are on six figures. Can you explain to us why you were in hospital and what that meant and how that impacted you.
Yes.
So, essentially, throughout my life, I was always very physically healthy, but I really struggle with my mental health and it essentially it was just always in the background.
I just pushed through.
It, just kind of felt like, this is what it is, like, who cares.
I'm just going to get on with my life.
That's what everyone has to do, right, And I just always pushed it aside until about four years ago, where I really noticed how much of a toll it was taking on me. I worked in quite a high pressure job. I worked for the Department of Human Services and we dealt with a lot of people in vulnerable situations and that took its toll on my mental health. And essentially that's when I cut down to part time because it like going into work every day.
It was so hard. And I was okay for a while.
Obviously my mental health was still suffering, but I just got on with my life. But about a year and a half two years ago, it really took a turn and I ended up being caught in a really restrictive eating disorder, and that landed me in hospital for a couple of months as I was so physically unwell as well as obviously very mentally unwell. And yeah, it just took me out of the game for quite a few
months there. I went through a couple of different programs and hospitals, and I'm glad to say that I'm doing so much better now. It's hard when you're in the middle of you know, your lowest. And like, I consider myself to be a very smart like a very smart person.
I have a behavioral science background. I have knowledge.
But and I thought that kind of protected me, and it really didn't. I thought I still had control, but I was like, oh, I can do whatever I want, I can turn it off whenever.
It's fine.
I'm smart enough, right, Like, yeah, and intelligent. I've got a degree, I did really well in school. What do you mean, No, I'm not struggling with this. I could just change if I wanted to.
Yeah, exactly. I honestly, at my lowest, I thought I was fine. I was like, well, yes, I know, like my body has changed physically and there's so many things that have changed in my routine. But I was like it's fine. Like I was losing weight. So people were quite happy with that because I was always in a very very large body and so people automatically see that
as wow, like what have you done? And people would ask me for tips every day, and I just thought I was the most like I'm like, I'm healthy.
Now, like inspirational, right, Yeah.
I was like, I'm so much healthy, Like I look like a completely different person to people.
They were like that is the most amazing success stor I've ever seen.
Like, no, it's not, it's not, And like it just solidifies like you really don't know what's going on with people, Like we really shouldn't be commenting on people's bodies regardless.
Oh that resonates so much with me, Money Diarist, But it resonates with me so much because that's what I went through. Like I've been open about this on the She's on the Money podcast before but I suffered with that. I have been hospitalized multiple times for an eating disorder.
It's not something that I am proud of, but I also think it's something that I need to share with our community because there is this massive misconception that eating disorders are weak or they are you know, mainly about what you look like, when in reality, for me, for me personally and because eating disorders and their journeys are always so different, for me, it was about control. Had
nothing to do with looking skinny. It had nothing to do with not lacking food, and everything to do with me trying to be in control of a situation that I didn't feel with in control of. And that's a mental health issue. It's not a food issue. It's a
mental health issue. And it makes me so happy to hear the way you're reflecting on your journey because you've got that help that you needed, and like, looking at you today and obviously our listeners can't see you, but like you're this bright, glowy human and we've just learned so much about this impact that you're having on the world.
And I think people just make this grand assumption that people who have eating disorders maybe aren't functional members of society in a way, whereas they are usually people who are contributing a whole heap and giving so much, and that's what ends up taking away from themselves and away from their own mental health. Is that something that you go, oh my god, Yeah, that's exactly it.
Yeah, yeah, definitely. There's such horrible stigma around it, and I think, you know, people in the community deserve better. I think people need to understand just how hard it is. And yeah, it is a mental health issue, and so many people are struggling regardless of if you think you can see it or not. Eating disorders aren't a physical like you can't see it, They're a mental health issue.
Like you said, absolutely, I wanted to ask you how you found yourself. So obviously you got your new role in an unusual way. You've come through a really challenging time with your health, which obviously takes a toll on your life pretty holistically, and then you've stepped into this role in a really unique way. A lot of the time when we're applying for jobs, obviously there's a salary guide or you interview with someone and they say, okay,
we've allocated X to X for this role. Whereas it sounds like the way that you kind of went about things, that guide wasn't available to you. How did you have that conversation with your now employer around money? Did you have to do any research yourself? Did they bring it to the table, What did that look like?
So, Yeah, because I was kind of like poached from my other job, I didn't have like a contract or anything like that to just like look at in a salary range, I basically spoke to the mother of the family directly. She gave me a bit of a ballpark once I did a couple shadow shifts with her son and essentially said, this is how much I'd paid previous support workers. I actually hadn't had previous experience in disability work,
so she gave me a certain figure. However, I actually negotiated for the second time in.
My life, Yes, Queen.
The first time was actually two weeks before this, because an agency actually wanted me for disability support without like, without me ever really wanting to, like I never.
Like searched for the field.
She kind of just said, hey, like, I think you'd be really great for this, and so I negotiated with her, and so after like I felt it a little bit good about that. I went to this lady, and you know, I just I told her, this is my skills, this is what I'm going to bring. I think I'd be really good for your family. I'm going to be doing long hours. I'm going to commit to you long term. And so I negotiated my pay.
Up a little bit.
The pay was pretty good to start with, it would have been around ninety to one hundred K.
But I negotiated congratulations. That takes some serious confidence. And to have done it not once, but twice in a very short period of time, you are someone who knows their worth. I love this.
Yes, I was so nervous at first, and I remember thinking to myself, you know, men wouldn't think twice about asking for their worth?
No, they Why should I?
So we need to borrow some of their audacity, right, like, right exactly. My girlfriends and I, this is wildly inappropriate. We're still going to put it on the podcast because I think people will love. But my girlfriends and I and Jessica RICI, you have heard this before. My girlfriends and I always say when we're feeling a little bit less confident, we're always like, what would a mediocre, middle aged white man do and then we just do that.
We do whatever they would do, and do you know what, Lucolia, it's worked so far exactly.
Goodness.
Yeah, that is pretty crazy. How are you going in terms of balancing that with being a student, Because you said you're studying nursing as well, and you've just mentioned that, you know, it's long hours, disability support work, particularly with a child who needs brown the clock care, I imagine you're often maybe doing like unusual shift times. How does that all balancing with your study as well? It feels like you've just got so much going on.
Yeah, So I was really lucky that the family had previous experience with students before, and so she was really happy to be flexible with my studies, which is amazing and I'm so thankful for that. So I have two days off a week on Thursday and Fridays, and that allows me on Thursdays usually to go to university, which hasn't technically started yet because of floods.
In Prisone, but it will. Yeah. Essentially, I'll have the.
Thursday and Fridays off and I've fit all the classes that I need to in person attend on a Thursday.
Very cool. And another question I have that I feel like you're going to have a priority on is your mental health. How are you going to make sure that you don't regress to where you were, Like that was obviously a very pivotal part of your life that I'm absolutely certain you didn't enjoy. But how are you going to make sure that that doesn't become a reoccurring event? Because from my perspective, it's so easy to slip back into old behaviors.
Yeah, so look, I'm really lucky because I have an amazing sister who has really just she's been super supportive. A big part of my eating disorder is it was obviously really easy, and really it thrived a lot when I lived alone, and now I don't. So that's something that I realized I need to keep a part of my life for a little while. But basically I've changed
so many habits now it's completely different. Like I make sure, you know, do I need to do a meditation, I try and incorporate that at night, I just go for walks.
So hard of my eating.
Disorder is that I had a really big problem with over exercising, and now the way I look at exercise is completely different.
Instead of doing exercises that I don't love to do, I just like go for a walk, like I.
Make sure that I'm doing like exercise where I can just relax on wine, like oh, go listen to your podcast on a walk, and I make sure like every day that I incorporate that and that essentially I take that time to unwind after.
Each shift because it can be a really difficult job.
It is kind of emotionally taxing too, and especially when you're dealing with high needs sometimes there's quite a few behaviors that you just it takes its toll if you aren't careful.
So the family is really great.
I can always debrief with the mother and just I prioritize self care.
Before I really didn't.
I was very much go go go, and like just get through it, like who cares. Today's a hard day, Just do everything you need to do, and who cares.
Tomorrow's a new day. But I'll do it all over again.
So I just really take time for myself now and actually do things that I love and enjoy.
For someone who's listening to this and going, oh my gosh, this resonates so much, I just don't know what to do about it, Like I'm so bad with my eating habits or even just like negative habits that are not helping you in any way, shape or form to thrive. What would be your advice to help them? I guess take the next steps to getting help. And how did you do that? Because that's not easy?
Yeah.
So look, basically what was my detriment initially is the thought that, well, I just have to push through this, that's what everyone has to do, and I don't want to get help because that would be admitting that I actually am really suffering, and I don't.
I just don't want to do that.
My whole thing was I needed to portray this perfect image and that like I just didn't want to break that facade. So my advice to someone would just be like, no matter how hard you think breaking that facade is going to be, or how bad you think it's going to be, when you do, it will never be as bad as staying in your current habits.
Like you will thank yourself.
And you will and it's crazy and it breaks, Like it's literally giving me goosebumps to think about this journey and how hard it is for people, because it's just it genuinely is so frigging hard. How did you do that? How did you go? You know what, I need some help? And what were your first steps? I know that that's very personal, but I feel like it's such a helpful piece of information because it's so we've all heard, like, oh, prioritize yourself. You can't pour from an empty carp and
just get help. What does that mean? How did you do it? Who did you speak to first? And what did that journey look like?
Yeah, so look, it's kind of a long process. So when my mental health started to.
Go down, I engaged a psychologist and I was actually working with a psychologist for a year and a half throughout that process, and like, I was proactively trying to help myself, and I just like I was engaging a psychologist, but I wasn't really doing the work essentially, and so I really didn't prioritize that. And technically, in the end, it wasn't my decision to go into hospital and get help.
It was a decision that was placed upon me. And I was under a mental Health Act because I wasn't able to make decisions in the state that I was. But I was actually the funny thing is is despite me not wanting to accept that help initially, I actually was helping myself. So I was actually listening to a lot of eating disort of recovery podcasts at my lowest, which was really kind of odd when you think about it, but I think I realized how at my end I
was and how much I was struggling. So I actually did end up speaking with my psychologist and I was listening to those recovery podcasts, and I was ed ducating myself as much as possible while I was in the depth of my eating disorder, And even though I wasn't willing to accept that help initially, if I didn't do all that work beforehand, my recovery would have taken so
much longer. So I feel like I was in like kind of I was accepting recovery and kind of open to thoughts and stuff like that beforehand, and I think that really helped me. Just recovery is quick. I'm not fully recovered, and I don't think I don't know if I ever will be, but I think I was really able to kick start that recovery and spend less time in hospital and more time getting on with my life.
Because throughout that whole process.
I was in hospital, but I was actually just getting as much information as possible and trying to be kind to myself and just giving myself that education so that way, like I had the tools for when I knew, I was ready to implement them.
Oh my gosh, you are you are special. I am so glad that we get to share you with our community. And I feel like so many people are going to listen to this and go wow, Like that really resonates with me. I was engaging with something, wasn't doing the work, though doesn't necessarily mean it has to be about eating disorders.
It could just be in life. You're going through a university degree, you're not really doing the work, you're turning up to the lectures, you're not really listening, and you're not absorbing it, so you're not going to be as successful as you could be. And I think that there's
just so much to learn from that. And thank you for sharing so much about your journey and being so open about it, because the only way we can start, you know, really breaking down these barriers of having these conversations and ensuring that people are getting the help that they deserve earlier is by having open, honest conversation and not making it a taboo topic where we're like, oh
my gosh, like Victoria's going through this thing. We had no idea where, you know, historically past me could have felt really comfortable to turn to a friend and being like, oh, Jess, I'm actually really struggling with this. What do you reckon I should do next? Because I never in a million years would have done that. In fact, my money, Daris got to the stage that you were in where decisions were being made for me and I wasn't a part of those decisions anymore, and that was in the best
interest of me. But you shouldn't have to get that far before you can go you know what, Maybe I do need to do some.
Work, yeah, And I think I just want to mention like a lot of people think that reaching out is like the hardest thing to do and that people won't understand, or people think that they have this whole picture in life together, and what would they think if you reached out and told them that you.
Were actually struggling.
And people are much more accepting than you think, and people are much more aware of what you're going through than what you may think that they are, so I think, just reach out when you can, and I promise you people are going to be a lot more understanding and helpful then you. Basically, your mental health is trying to make you believe and yeah.
That's so helpful. Well, unfortunately, I do think that is all we have time for today. But thank you so much for joining us. I am so grateful to learn a little bit about your money story, a little bit about your mental health and your journey and how much you are giving to our world. And guys, don't forget this. Money Diarist has let their anonymity if that's the right word, slip, and they have shared their Instagram, So go follow our
money diarist on Instagram. Her instagram is saving with Jess, but the with is just a doub.
The advice shared on She's on the Money is generally nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's on the Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or a financial decision. And we promise Victoria Divine is an authorized representative of in Focused Securities Australia Proprietary Limited ABN four seven oh nine seven seven ninety seven zero four nine AFSL two three six five two three See you next week, guys.
Bye,