FEATURE - A ‘Kick’ from the Universe

When Carolyn Ching unexpectedly collapsed at work one day, she realised her cherished nursing career was over. But instead of wallowing in self-pity, she saw a golden opportunity – one that has since floated her onto the world stage.

By Judy Fredriksen

Born of Dutch parents, Carolyn grew up in Colchester, England. A strong desire to help others saw her initially train in orthopaedic nursing before becoming a registered nurse at Stevenage, Hertfordshire. 

Along the way she enjoyed the usual milestones of life and married before moving to Holland in the early 1980s. Carolyn continued to nurse, and her son was born in Holland, bringing much joy to the couple. However, life in Holland had its challenges, especially when her husband experienced a serious health issue. 

“We’d been in Holland for nine years and it was difficult when you are in a non-English speaking country. I speak fluent Dutch, but my husband didn’t.” 

Reluctant to return to England, the couple considered moving to other countries. 

“England was going through a recession, and we weren’t going to go back there. So Australia or the US were the two best places that we looked at going to.” 

Australia won the toss and in 1994, the couple moved to Brisbane where Carolyn found nursing work. 

Over many years, she worked in day surgeries, recovery rooms and operating theatres where she was always required to wear latex gloves. After some time, her skin developed an allergic reaction to the latex gloves, so she switched to wearing vinyl gloves instead, and soldiered on.

“Eventually I went to work in the chemotherapy unit at the Royal Brisbane Hospital. And you had to wear the latex gloves over the vinyl because otherwise the chemo fluids burn into your skin. 

“Then one day, I went into a full-blown anaphylactic shock at work. So that was literally the end of my nursing career.”

That was in 1999, and the allergy from the latex gloves had taken its toll. Once she recovered from the initial shock, Carolyn found herself being optimistic.

“I say it’s my ‘kick’ from the universe because I had wanted to do hypnotherapy for years. But back in the ‘90s, you didn’t leave a good job to go and do something that’s quite ‘out there’. But that’s exactly what I ended up doing.”

While Carolyn set about studying counselling and hypnotherapy for her career change, she carried out administrative work in a day surgery on the Gold Coast to pay the bills. 

Slowly she established her new career in hypnotherapy, but Fate had some more interesting twists and turns in store for her. 

Sadly, her marriage had become a casualty of the move to Australia and her disrupted career, and she found herself single again. 

Never-the-less, she enjoyed her new occupation and regularly travelled to Hawaii where she ran her own workshops and health retreats. On one of these visits, a friend introduced her to a Hawaiian native … and romance blossomed. 

By now her son was an adult and Carolyn was ensconced in a career where she could call her own shots. It was time for more adventure … and curiosity was calling. After 20 years of living in Australia, she married her Hawaiian hunk and moved to Hawaii where she lived in an authentic Hawaiian community.

Slowly she built up her hypnotherapy business from scratch – for the second time in her life – and invitations to speak at conferences around the United States began to flow in. 

Carolyn was content; it was what she loved doing, i.e. “helping people and seeing them go from wherever they’re at, to where they want to be”. 

Carolyn has since returned to Australia and now lives at Sippy Downs where she can be closer to her treasured grandson. 

In between helping clients, not just locally, but also from the United Kingdom and the United States via zoom, and being a keynote speaker at overseas conferences, Carolyn has found time to write and publish two books. 

Anxiety the Book helps people to understand the root cause of their anxiety and what actions they can take to reduce it. 

It’s Time to be Me is about being your authentic self. 

A quick Google search of Amazon reviews shows that both books have been well received internationally, cementing Carolyn’s reputation as a helper and healer. 

So … for anybody who may be fearful of their future or suffering from anxiety, Carolyn can draw on her own experiences and has this advice:

“It’s very important to stay in the present, because anyone who has anxiety is looking for something negative or unwanted that ‘might’ happen in the future. But they have no proof of whether it will happen, or it won’t happen. 

“Our unconscious mind can’t tell the difference between what we’re thinking and what’s actually happening. So every time we do a ‘what if’ thought about the future that’s negative, our unconscious mind is dumping those stress chemicals in our system as if we were in that situation right now. 

“So, it’s really important to stay in the present, stay focused on what you want, on what you can do, on what you have got, as opposed to getting sucked in the cycle of what you don’t want, can’t have, can’t do.” 

What sage advice from someone who has lived an inspiring life example. Thank you for sharing, Carolyn!