About Sandra Glavan
Life Coach for Highly Sensitive People Suffering from Anxiety
Hi Sensitive Human,
My name is Sandra Glavan, and I'm a Heart-Based Life Coach on a mission to help highly sensitive people, like you, reduce anxiety naturally, develop long-lasting self-love, and pursue dreams.
After two decades of chronic anxiety and self-hate, I managed to conquer both, and experience an incredible spiritual transformation in the process, which inspired me to open my heart and soul to every sensitive human being suffering from anxiety.
Making a loving contribution in this world has always been my number one dream and now I'm living this dream through my coaching.
My coaching techniques are based on my anxiety healing success story and formula, and thousands of hours of self-study.
My Success Formula = Anti-Anxiety Diet + Anti-Anxiety Lifestyle + Anti-Anxiety Mindset + Self-Love
I’m not a mental health professional or a therapist, rather I’m someone who has lived and breathed a life of chronic anxiousness and studied intensively about various alternative healing techniques.
For example, in the past 10 years, I've completed the following courses, and I'm constantly adding to this list:
Life Coaching
Anxiety Awareness
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Psychotherapy & Counselling
Stress Management
Advanced Nutrition
Vegetarian and Vegan Nutrition
Holistic Nutrition
Bioenergy Therapy® Level I & II by Zdenko Domančić Method
Ho’oponopono by IZI LLC Self I-Dentity (Hawaiian Method of Healing)
Awakening the Illuminated Heart & Cosmic Grace by The School of Remembering® (Meditation Technique)
Shamanic Heart Healing® Therapy Level I, II & III
Angel Therapy - Angel Intuitive Certificate & Certified Angel Card Reader® by Doreen Virtue
Therapeutic Imagery by The School of Images with Dr. Catherine Shainberg
Introduction to Raw foods with Kate Magic
Introduction to Longevity with David Wolfe
At present, I'm studying towards the 500-Hour Yoga Teacher Training Qualification as yoga is one of the top anti-anxiety techniques that I recommend to my community.
How Can I Help You?
If you’re a sensitive person who's struggling with anxiety, and would like help from a heart-based life coach then I’d love to coach you.
You’ll learn:
- How to change your diet, lifestyle and mindset as a way of reducing anxiety naturally
- How to incorporate the most effective self-love practices as part of a busy life, and
- How to start making small, non-anxious steps towards your dreams.
So, Dear Heart,
If anxiety is controlling your thoughts, social life, work, relationships, diet, or any other part of your existence, I get you 100 per cent. But there is a way out, with light at the end of the tunnel, if you allow me to show you the way.
COACHING SERVICES
1-1 LIFE COACHING
If you're interested in private 1-1 coaching to take your anxiety healing, development of self-love and pursue of dreams to a higher level then click the link below for more details and to schedule a 30-minute complementary call.
My Story
My Story in a Nutshell
After struggling with severe anxiety symptoms for two decades and reaching an unbearable state of existence - where I could no longer go to work, face seeing friends or family, have normal relationships or get to sleep at night - I became desperate and embarked on a quest to get out of my living nightmare.
On this journey, I read many books, watched countless documentaries and took many courses to expand my knowledge of physical and mental health.
Eventually, with hard work and commitment to changing my diet, lifestyle, and mindset, and finding a way to love myself again, I experienced a spiritual transformation and managed to overcome chronic anxiety and self-hate. This incredible journey - which I thought was impossible - inspired me to help others also achieve the same kind of anxiety-free and self-love success.
That's when I decided to create this site, a YouTube Channel, and a Pinterest Profile to connect with anxiety sufferers from around the world.
Over time, I took more courses and acquired various diplomas to have the necessary skills to be a valuable Life Coach for Anxiety Sufferers.
Today I help and support anxious individuals reduce anxiety naturally, adopt self-love practices and make small non-anxious steps towards their dreams. And as a highly sensitive person I seem to only attract gentle souls which are exactly the type of people I love working with.
If you want to know more about my anxiety healing journey and success formula, you can read the full version of my story below.
1. How My Anxiety Disorder Started?
My anxiety started during my childhood.
I was born in Bosnia in 1983 to Croatian parents, and from the age of nine until eleven I lived through the conflict in former Yugoslavia (1992-94), which marked the start of my anxiety disorder.
During those two years I experienced many traumatic events and these triggered excessive fears, worry, and irritability, which continued in peacetime and for many years later.
It would take a book to describe all the painful things that I went through, but for the purpose of this “about page” I'm going to give you a snapshot of the six main traumatic events that were at the core of my anxiety disorder.
Traumatic Event #1 – My Mother, Brother and I Left Stranded
One of the biggest challenges during the war was that my mother, brother, and I were left stranded without our loved ones. Basically, my father, who was a major in the army, was kept in a concentration camp for the entire time and all of our family lived in Croatia.
To make things worse, we also didn't have any contact with them because the Bosnian government disconnected phone lines, which meant that throughout the war we didn't know if my father was alive.
Traumatic Event #2 – Regular Sirens, Shooting, & Bombing
We had to live through regular sirens, shooting, and bombing as part of daily life which was a living nightmare. Each time a bomb exploded near us, I felt as though my soul fragmented into a million pieces, which would keep me in a state of shock for days.
Also, my neighborhood experienced more shooting than other locations in our city because our apartment building was next to the main target zone that included a hospital, an army base, and a school.
Traumatic Event #3 – Constant Hunger and No Money
We couldn't buy any food and had to struggle with constant hunger for the entire war.
The roads leading to and out of our city were closed and the supermarkets were not getting any deliveries, leaving them completely empty. The only food that was available was on the black market but this was unaffordable to innocent civilians.
Money was another major issue. We didn't have any income because my mum stopped receiving her salary and we couldn't draw out any money from the bank either. The economy and the financial sector had completely collapsed, the local currency flopped, the banks ceased and the economy reached hyperinflation.
So, we barely managed to survive throughout. My mum struggled to find ways to cope, and in the end, she sold pieces of our furniture and other belongings to buy flour and yeast, which was all she could afford.
The price of 1kg of flour was the equivalent of 25 EUR, while the price of 1kg of sugar was the equivalent of 50 EUR. So, when my mum would sell a wardrobe for example, she could only buy 2kg of flour with the money she received, which would stretch us for about a week.
Traumatic Event #4 – No Water, Electricity, Heating or Transport
We also didn't have any water or electricity. If either was turned on by our government, they would do so randomly (without any warning) and only during the night so that we wouldn't use a lot.
Heating was a massive problem too. We were living in an apartment and only had access to central heating, but without electricity this was worthless and so, we were freezing during winters. We had to sleep with our coats, hats and gloves on and even then it was too cold.
Keeping safe was also a problem. When the shooting got intense around our building, we slept in shelters, and moldy and dark cellars, but while this was protecting us in one way, we got sick afterwards which was then hard to shake off because we were deficient in nutrients.
On top of that my mum had to leave my brother and me home alone and go to work. Even though she was not getting paid, if she wanted to keep her job in the future she had to continue working. My mum was a teacher in Bosnia, but as schools were full of refugees from neighboring villages, instead of teaching she was looking after orphan children who had lost their parents during the war.
Traumatic Event #5 – Unable to See My Father for Another 8 Months
Another traumatic thing that happened during the war was that when my father was finally released after 14 months, we couldn't reunite with him.
When the British Red Cross carried out an exchange of prisoners from his concentration camp, instead of sending my father back to Bosnia, he was sent to Croatia.
At the time we couldn't join him in Croatia because all the roads were closed to and from Bosnia and our government required many NEW documents to even consider anyone leaving.
So, while in Croatia, my father decided to apply for all four of us to seek refuge in the United Kingdom. Thanks to the efficiency of the British Embassy, a month after first getting out, my father was granted his request and was sent on a plane to England while being promised that they would do the same for us once we get out of Bosnia.
After numerous obstacles, of what many times felt like the impossible, and more than a half a year later, my mother managed to collate all the necessary documentation to leave Bosnia. Soon after she sold our remaining belongings (though we didn't have much left anyway) and bought three excessively overpriced single coach tickets to Zagreb (Croatia).
Traumatic Event #6 – Stranded at the Border with No Money
In 1994, we finally boarded a coach to get out of Bosnia, and though we were meant to travel on one bus all the way to Zagreb, things didn't work out this way.
Firstly, we travelled for 36 hours (a journey that normally takes 5 hours during peacetime) because the driver took many detours to avoid danger zones, but also he kept stopping to have a sleep. We and the rest of the passengers were frightened each time he did this because it was common for buses to be raided and for soldiers to rape women and children.
But that's not all, once we got to the Croatian/Bosnian border, the driver didn't have a visa to show at immigration. Basically, he lied about having the necessary travel documents when he sold us the coach tickets back in Bosnia. So, we were stranded at the border which was another shock for everyone travelling on this bus.
My mum asked the driver to give us some of the money back because we still had more than half of the journey to do on our own, but he made all the passengers get off the bus and drove off.
So, with two children, suitcases and hardly any money my mum had to come up with a new plan! I remember standing with my brother by our luggage shaking and trembling, while my mum ran around trying to sort us out!
Somehow, my mum managed to negotiate with a different bus driver to take us to Split (65km) and that she would give him the money once we arrived. She kept her promise, and called my uncle once we arrived to Split to arrange for a friend to lend us the money so that my mum could pay the driver and also buy more tickets to get us to Zagreb (415km).
All I can say is that the journey was pure hell and waiting at the border during the war was a very frightening experience.
But once in Croatia, the British Embassy arranged for us to fly to England pretty quickly, and I finally saw my father after 24 months.
2. How I Managed to Make My Anxiety Worse?
Starting my new life in the UK was great in the sense that we were together again as a family and safe, but unfortunately my anxiety continued.
I must admit that at first my symptoms were manageable and occurred only sometimes rather than constantly.
But with time I managed to make my anxiety worse with an overly ambitious mindset and bad lifestyle choices.
Again, it would take a book to give you the full story but for now I'll elaborate on the three main reasons why my anxiety got worse over the years.
Reason #1 - Pushing Too Hard
When I came to the UK, I was desperate to fit in with the other children, and so I pushed myself too hard, which resulted in more anxiety.
I didn't like that I was known as the refugee, or that I couldn't speak a word of English or that I was behind my peers in school, and the way I dealt with this was to study and read constantly, and not allow myself to have fun or time off.
The sole focus of my existence became academic success, which proved to be great for my grades but very bad for my mental health.
Reason #2 - Ignoring My Symptoms
As time went on, my strive for academic success was continually making my anxiety worse, but I chose to ignore this completely and carried on.
I was studying all the time, before, during, and after school, and at weekends. This meant that I was inside all the time, sitting down a lot and living pretty much a sedentary lifestyle.
All of this combined - working too hard, no fun and no exercise, and ignoring my symptoms - began to seriously take a toll on my mental health but also on my physical health. For example, in addition to worse anxiety symptoms, I was also experiencing low energy, candidiasis, and cystic acne.
Reason #3 - Adopting an Unhealthy Lifestyle
By the time I moved away from home to go to University, I continued with all my bad habits mentioned above, plus I acquired new ones.
I started working in a night-club and partied after my shifts, ate poorly and inconsistently, and began drinking alcohol in excess.
On top of that I got even more obsessed with academic success and strived for top grades.
So, what was the outcome?
At the end of my undergraduate degree I got the grades that I dreamed off - a first class honors and a full scholarship for a masters.
But, and this is a big BUT, by the time I finished my postgraduate studies, my anxiety was in a dire state and I struggled with it daily.
This should have been the point where I stopped and made some positive changes, but unfortunately, I was solely concerned with my career.
3. Anxiety Reaching the 'Unbearable'
After University I moved to London (the largest financial center in the world) and with my academic credentials, I managed to get into investment banking.
From day one I threw myself into my job. I was working long hours - from 7am until 8pm on most days and also during weekends - and I persisted with all my bad habits, including poor eating, no exercise, drinking alcohol and striving to be the best while ignoring my health.
But this was not sustainable, especially because it had gone on for too long.
So, only a few years into my life in the capital, and while in my mid-20s, I reached a point of unbearable anxiety, coupled with many other health issues which was overwhelming to say the least.
When I got to this stage, I couldn't ignore my symptoms anymore and I knew it was time to get professional help.
In addition to chronic anxiety, I was also experiencing the following health problems:
4. Turning Things Around - My Anxiety Healing Journey
Step 1: Getting a Diagnosis & Therapy
The first step I took on my healing journey was to see my local doctor who immediately diagnosed me with General Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and Major Depressive Disorder (MDD).
The truth is, until I received this diagnosis, I didn't realize that I had mental health disorders. Maybe it's hard to believe that I was that clueless, but I simply thought that the way I was feeling was unique to people who lived through the war.
This diagnosis helped me to finally put a name to what I was experiencing all those years which proved to be useful going forward, both for my own research and when talking to therapists.
My doctor gave me medication to manage my anxiety and depression but I only took these tablets for a short while. The tablets made me feel weak and drowsy, and I decided to start seeing a therapist instead.
Please note that I do not recommend to anyone to stop taking medication without consulting first with their doctor. The only reason I did that was because I didn't know what I was doing at the time.
The therapy was a great move. My therapist was a lovely, and gentle man, who made me feel comfortable to cry, and I cried a lot. All of our sessions were focused around my childhood trauma because that was at the heart of my anxiety disorder. I can't remember exactly how many sessions we had in total, but what I do remember is that I came to a point where I felt I was ready to make the next step on my healing journey.
I was still struggling with anxiety at the time, but I felt that the therapist had helped me to have the strength to take further action.
In addition to seeing my therapist, I also saw various consultants about my other health issues, and was given medication for a few of my symptoms which I took for some time. But to be truly honest with you, I didn't see any positive changes, and some of my symptoms actually got worse, which is why I decided at this point to search for alternative help.
So, while still trying to manage my anxiety, depression, and other health issues, I began to do some research on my own.
I should point out here, though, that I'm still glad I saw my doctor and therapist at the outset, because getting a diagnosis and beginning to explore my childhood trauma was necessary to be able to move forward on my healing journey.
Also, by seeing my doctor and other medical professionals I eliminated any other possible health issues and this is essential.
Step 2: Adopting a Healthy Lifestyle
Roundabout this time, I met my husband Kresimir. It was love at first sight and after only a few months of knowing each other, we decided to get married!
He became my shining light and together we began researching alternative medicine and various healing therapies. This is how I got to meet an amazing phyto-therapist, who changed my life!
I spent quite a bit of time with this lady and she taught me so much. She told me that to turn my mental and physical health around I had to immediately change my diet and adopt a healthy lifestyle.
More specifically, she suggested I
- Adopt an anti-anxiety diet
- Start doing gentle exercise
- Introduce daily relaxation techniques such as meditation
- and work on reducing the amount of stress in my life.
I took her advice very seriously and got to work immediately. Amazingly enough, after only a few months of following her advice I noticed incredible improvements.
My skin started to clear up, I was free of abdominal pain, my energy levels went up, and I began to experience anxiety relief for the first time in years!
I was truly inspired by this progress and decided to explore alternative healing even more. This is when I began reading and learning about nutrition, healthy and clean eating, healthy cooking, detoxing, raw diets, veganism, bio energy healing, and so much more.
My husband and I also began attending courses and seminars and we acquired many certificates including the following.
The more I learned about healthy living and the more I ate healthily, exercised and practiced relaxation, the less anxious I felt, and the better I was overall. Also, with time my physical health issues started to disappear one by one.
Step 3: Creating an Anti-Anxiety Mindset
Living a healthy lifestyle proved to be an amazing move on my healing journey.
But as I read more about holistic living, I realized that I also had to work on changing my negative thoughts and beliefs as another step on my healing journey.
So, I committed to listening to empowering audio books, and practicing journaling, and positive affirmations every day which helped me to over time transform my thoughts.
The more I worked on replacing my negative thoughts with empowering ones the less anxiety I experienced.
For example, I started to believe that I have the power to change how I feel, and I can use anxiety as a signal to help me change things in my life that are potentially not working for me, which made me take more positive actions and adopt other healthy habits.
I realized that with each new positive belief and action I was getting better and better.
Step 4: Falling in Love with Myself and Overcoming Anxiety
The last step on my healing journey - inspired by self-help authors such as Louise L. Hay - was to fall in love with myself again. This was the final piece of the puzzle that I needed to be able to overcome my mental disorders.
In my eyes this was the advanced level of positively changing my mindset.
That's because when I first started tackling my negative thoughts I couldn't affirm "I love myself". I had spent most of my life rejecting myself and so saying "I love myself" was too soon in the beginning.
But once I developed some positive thoughts and beliefs as explained in step 3, I was ready to work on self-love next.
So, I began adopting more self-loving thoughts, behaviors and actions.
For example,
- Intensively practiced positive affirmations such as I am enough, I love myself, I forgive myself
- Practiced regularly accepting my strengths and weaknesses as part of a whole
- Adopted techniques for self-forgiveness, and gratitude
- Learned a lot about unconditional love
- Practiced not comparing myself to others
- Strived for success only in a way that was aligned with my health
- Created a self-care routine, and
- Introduced fun hobbies into my life.
This work was incredibly important because adopting self-love and self-care as part of my daily routine, allowed me to find the beauty within myself, and the more I cherished my own uniqueness, the more I noticed anxiety fading away.
Eventually, I came to a point where I truly fell in love with my soul at which time anxiety and depression were no longer part of my life. This was an enlightening experience, a spiritual transformation, that inspired me to help others.
5. Life Coach for Gentle Anxiety Sufferers
The moment I realized I wanted to help others achieve the same kind of anxiety-free and self-love success, I created this site, a YouTube Channel, and a Pinterest Profile to connect with people from all over the world.
I also decided to become a Life Coach and completed several diplomas, with a focus on anxiety awareness, holistic nutrition and psychotherapy.
This is the full list of my diplomas to date, though I am studying towards something new all the time.
At present, I'm studying towards the 500-Hour Yoga Teacher Training Qualification as yoga is one of the top anti-anxiety techniques that I recommend to my community.
6. My Holistic Success Formula
Everything I teach through my articles, videos, and coaching sessions is designed to help you achieve these three major goals using my personal success formula.
My success formula is based on the major steps that I took on my healing journey.
Anti-Anxiety Diet + Anti-Anxiety Lifestyle + Anti-Anxiety Mindset + Self-Love
7. How Can You Benefit from All My Experience?
That's it my dear heart, we've come to the end of my story. I hope you fount it informative and valuable in relation to your anxiety struggles and journey.
If you want to benefit from all my anxiety knowledge and experience then make sure you take advantage of either or both coaching options below.
I truly do hope to connect with you soon again.
All my love
Loving Coach, Sandra Glavan xoxxo
COACHING SERVICES
1-1 LIFE COACHING
If you're interested in private 1-1 coaching to take your anxiety healing, development of self-love and pursue of dreams to a higher level then click the link below for more details and to schedule a 30-minute complementary call.
