Written in Partnership with Maria Williams
It looked like Gina Swire was living a dream life. Her career as a plus-size model had her jetting-setting across the globe. Far from her sleepy hometown of Poulton-le-Fylde, England, Gina was living it up in New York City. Her face was on billboards and in glossy magazines, she partied every night, and her closet was full of designer clothes. From the outside it looked like she had it all, and in some ways she did.
However, her inner world was in chaos. She wasn’t able to receive how ‘well’ she was doing because she had such an overwhelming inner voice telling her the opposite. And even if a thousand people showered her with compliments, if one person said something derogatory she would obsess over it, making it very hard to receive love. Despite her having all the trappings of success, she felt like she couldn’t enjoy any of it. She felt guilty for not being able to enjoy the privileges she was experiencing and baffled as to why.
Gina was stuck in a cycle of binge eating, binge drinking, binge shopping, and binge dating. Constantly chasing external gratification, Gina went out with different men every night but never let any of them get close to her. Her sense of self depended on the number of modelling jobs she booked and how many compliments she received on a night out.
Having lost her father to cancer in her early twenties, Gina felt a powerful drive to make the most of every day and create a successful life. Then, one day, in the middle of a modelling shoot, she had an epiphany.
She realised that she had been defining success by other people’s standards. She was cut off from her intuition and bingeing as a way to numb her feelings. She knew it was time for a change.
“I didn’t know what the f*ck I was doing but I knew this wasn’t it. I literally left New York that night. I only had one case of stuff with me at any one time, so I just upped and left.”
She describes going into a dark low. “I didn’t know what I was doing. Without the bingeing and constant distraction, I was suddenly facing all my fears, loneliness and abandonment wounds.” But then something wonderful happened. “By facing all my demons head on, I started getting downloads”. Gina describes these as clear messages that come through when she journals, meditates, or simply creates space to listen. “It’s like an inner GPS system, guiding me in the right direction.”
Gina shares these downloads in her bestselling book PS I Love Me, published in 2021. The messages she received were all about self-love and self-acceptance. “You’ve been trying to change yourself your whole life. You don’t need to change anything. You just need to be who you are. You want to be seen, heard, felt and acknowledged, but love comes from within. You can tap into it at any time.”
From that moment, Gina dedicated her life to studying modalities that support a healthy relationship with self. She realised that self-love is the foundation of a truly successful life. A life that feels as good as it looks. Without this foundation, anything you build is at risk of crumbling. But with self-love as the bedrock, anything is possible.
“The only way to heal yourself is to fully feel your emotions. Exploring your triggers and blocks increases your self-awareness. The more you know yourself, the more you can love yourself, and this is the pathway to being, getting and having what you want in your life.”
Gina is now a renowned speaker, author, podcaster and coach, travelling the globe and sharing her expertise on self-love. She’s been interviewed on Life Stories with Joanna Garzilli and featured as an expert on Good Morning Lala Land. She frequently speaks at international wellness events and throughout lockdown she continued to spread her self-love message through online summits. These included Taking Back Women’s Wellness Online Summit 2021, The Happiness Planner Virtual Workshop 2021, Coronafest Online 2020, and many more.
Last year, Gina set up an online coaching academy where she trains self-love coaches around the world. She also hosts retreats that teach women how to become multi-orgasmic to expand their capacity to receive pleasure and enjoy more wealth and success. “Learning how to hold more pleasure in your body is the key that unlocks your ability to receive more abundance in every area of your life.”
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