I don't teach resilience because I studied it.
I teach it because I've had no choice but to live it.
At 12, a diving accident broke my neck and left me a quadriplegic.
That was the obvious one.
The visible crisis.
The ones that came later were quieter and, in some ways, harder.
Financial ruin that took more than everything I'd built.
A divorce that cracked the foundation of who I thought I was.
A pandemic that shredded my business in months.
After each one, I noticed the same temptation.
Move fast.
Stay busy.
Don't stop long enough to feel it.
And I noticed it didn't work.
Not in the long run.
What worked was slower.
Less impressive from the outside.
Practices instead of hacks.
Honesty instead of hustle.
Showing up as I actually was, not as I thought I should be.
That's how I rebuilt.
Every time.
Beyond where I was before.
Today I have the best relationship of my life, I’m healthier and happier than I’ve ever been, and I’m inspired and fulfilled in the work I do. That’s what rebuilding beyond looks like.
Today I'm a keynote speaker for organisations like Viacom, Telstra, and Flight Centre.
I've written a book on resilience.
I’m a trusted mentor to high performers.
Layne Beachley calls me the Queen of Resilience. David Goggins called me a Badass. And Bob Burg says I’m his real life action hero.
None of that is the point.
The point is I know the path because I've lived it.
That's the method I teach.
My name, Stacey, comes from the Greek Anastasia, meaning ‘she who will rise again’. I don’t take that lightly.
If you're in the middle of your own rebuild, I'd love to hear where you're at.
Ever wondered what your LinkedIn profile would look like if it was a 45 second movie trailer?
Wonder no more!
Thanks to the wizardry of AI, here’s what the movie of Stacey is.
Flashback to the time when David Goggins crowned me a BAD ASS!!!
Amazing chat 💪🏽💪🏽💪🏽
#canthurtme #armoredmind #uncommonamongstuncommon #callousedmind #theraceisneverover #davidgoggins #upgradeyourlife2020 #empowermentoffailure #dontgetcomfortable #the40percentrule
Most people don't rebuild after a hard hit. They just get busy again and call it recovery.
They hustle past the thing that broke them, stack new goals on top of a shaky foundation, and then wonder why everything feels harder than it used to. The calendar fills back up. The energy doesn't.
Real rebuilding has a sequence. And most people skip steps because skipping feels faster. It isn't. Skipping just means you'll be back at square one in six months wondering what went wrong again.
Here's what actually works: you name the thing first. Not the watered-down version, not the catastrophised version. The accurate version. Then you stop what's actively bleeding before you try to grow anything new. Then you build rhythm, not motivation. Motivation is a terrible business partner. It calls in sick constantly.
Then you look at the story running underneath your decisions, because that story is either building you or quietly burning things down. And finally, you build infrastructure that holds. Not a burst of inspiration that feels amazing and then disappears by the following Tuesday.
That's five moves. In order. Because order matters.
In May, the I'm running a live five-day challenge called 5 Moves to Rebuild Control. Forty-five minutes a day, on Zoom. Each session, you walk away with one practical asset you can actually use right away, whether life is messy right now or you're quietly putting something back together.
There's a bonus day, a ninety-day map, and a VIP option if you want daily Q&A and recordings for thirty days.
Full details drop soon. If you want them before anyone else does, just DM with the word control and you'll be first in line.
Rebuilding isn’t what you think it is
There’s a trap that catches almost every high performer after a hard hit, and it’s not laziness, fear, or lack of discipline.
It’s the wrong question.
The wrong question sounds completely reasonable.
It sounds like progress.
It sounds like: “How do I get back to where I was?” And that question will quietly wreck your rebuild before it even starts.
Here’s why.
The version of you that existed before the health scare, the financial shock, the burnout, the relationship fracture, that version lived in completely different conditions.
Different resources. Different context. Different everything.
Measuring your current progress against that version is like trying to hit a target that’s already been moved.
You’ll keep swinging and keep missing, and you’ll assume the problem is you.
It’s not you. It’s the question.
The rebuild that actually holds starts somewhere different.
Not “how do I get back” but “what am I actually building from here?”
Those two questions look similar on the surface but they produce completely different decisions.
One keeps you stuck in comparison, measuring the gap between now and then.
The other treats where you are right now as the real starting point, which it is.
Your foundation has changed.
That’s not a problem to overcome.
It’s just the truth you’re working with. And working with the truth is always faster than arguing against it.
After my accident, I spent years trying to get back to who I was before.
I was twelve.
I’d only just figured out who that was.
It took a long time to understand that the goal was never to return.
It was to build from where I actually was.
I’ve been rocked more than once since then.
Financial ruin. Divorce. A pandemic that took a business I’d spent years building.
Each time, the same trap appeared: the pull toward a version of myself that no longer existed, living a life that was no longer available.
Here’s what I know now.
The “old you” isn’t coming back.
That’s not a tragedy.
That’s the starting point.
What you had before was built on conditions, context, capacity - most of which has shifted.
Trying to return to it is like trying to rebuild a house on a foundation that’s already moved.
The question isn’t “how do I get back to normal.”
The question is “what am I actually building from here.”
That shift changes everything.
Fun afternoon at @crowbarsyd introducing the young Roses to the wonder of @regurgitators live. Last time I saw them live was 1996 when i was much closer to their ages! Bummer that Reuben Rose was on the road and couldnt join us.
It was great to have an afternoon gig that was all ages. Well done to Gurge and Crowbar for the timing of the gig and having the kids tix half price. Loved seeing so many kids there! Please do more of these Crowbar 🙏🏻🤘🏽
📸 @maramachine
On International Women’s Day, I keep thinking less about “strong women” and more about real women.
The women I admire most are not the ones who make it all look effortless.
They’re the ones who’ve had messy seasons.
The ones who’ve questioned themselves.
The ones who’ve learned that resilience is something you build intentionally, not something you perform for approval.
Because being a woman in business can feel like living with constant tension.
A lot of us have learned to stay switched on.
To keep producing.
To keep holding everything together.
To keep smiling while we do it.
And underneath that is often a deeper truth:
it doesn’t always feel safe to relax.
There’s a fear that if we stop, everything might slip.
That if we soften, we’ll fall behind.
That if we admit something is hard, we’ll look weak.
But resilience was never meant to look like endless pushing.
It’s not pretending to be positive when you’re exhausted.
It’s not hustling harder.
It’s not girl bossing your way through life while your nervous system pays the bill.
That isn’t resilience.
That’s pressure with better branding.
Resilience is looking at reality honestly and deciding the next action from there.
It’s being present enough to tell yourself the truth.
It’s being real enough to stop performing.
It’s building the habits, boundaries, support, and self-trust that help you keep going without losing yourself.
I’ve built businesses from a wheelchair.
It isn’t some polished inspirational story.
It is hard and messy and frustrating and very real.
Resilience has less to do with being impressive, and more to do with being honest and self-aware.
So today, I want to acknowledge the women in business who are juggling a lot.
The women who are building, leading, adapting, persisting.
The women who are learning they do not have to be everything to everyone all at the same time.
You do not need to prove your strength by exhausting yourself.
Presence over performance.
Someone I’m working with told me something recently that I haven’t stopped thinking about.
A year ago she went through a huge life challenge.
Her response? Keep working. Keep pushing. Stay busy enough that you don’t have to feel it.
Sound familiar?
Christmas came. She didn’t switch off.
A short holiday afterwards. Still didn’t switch off.
Work emails kept pinging. She kept answering them.
No reset. No reflection. Just motion.
She told me she joined my program because she needed something to help her create the reset in her life throughout the year.
Not just once. Not just at Christmas when it’s already too late.
But regularly. Intentionally. On purpose.
So I gave her a phrase I come back to a lot.
Invest in rest.
It doesn’t have to be dramatic. It can start with five minutes.
Five minutes of actually stopping. Not scrolling. Not planning. Just being still.
Then you build from there.
That investment has an excellent ROI.
Because you can’t think clearly when you’re running on empty.
You can’t make good decisions when you haven’t stopped long enough to check in with yourself.
Rest isn’t the opposite of progress. It’s the foundation for it.
If you’re a business owner who hasn’t properly reset in months, maybe longer, my Inner Circle runs weekly calls for exactly this.
A place to stop. Reflect. Be intentional about what comes next.
$100 a week. No fluff. Just people who understand what it costs to keep pushing without pausing.
Snappy Stacey showed up last week.
She wasn’t invited. But she showed up anyway.
Last week I turned into Snappy Stacey. Someone asked a totally normal question. I basically delivered a TED Talk called “Why Everyone Is Wrong.”
Classic.
Here’s the thing though. It wasn’t a personality flaw. It was my inputs. The mix was rubbish.
Not enough sleep. Not enough sun. Keto without electrolytes. Too many late nights stacking up like unpaid bills. That’s a recipe for becoming a different person.
So I ran what I call a Soundcheck.
It’s simple. First I stopped and came back to my body. Hand on chest. One slow breath. I named what was actually going on without making it a whole character flaw story.
Then I did a quick rewind of the last 72 hours. Sleep. Food. Water. Sunlight. How full was my plate. Who I’d been around. The stuff I pretend doesn’t matter until it really does.
Next I changed ONE lever. Not my whole life. Just one thing. Choice was salt in my water. It could have been an earlier bedtime. Ten minutes outside. One thing crossed off the list.
The world did not end.
Then I set the tone for the next “set.” How did I want to show up even while tired. Calm voice. Heck yes or heck no. Less proving myself to everyone.
Last step. I told the truth to someone who matters. I named it. Owned it.
Track for this Soundcheck: Pearl Jam, “Just Breathe.”
Your turn now. Comment and drop your Soundcheck. What’s been throwing your system off lately? What’s the one lever you’re pulling today?
I’ve been really moved by the messages and responses to my post yesterday on resilience.
It’s clear this conversation is landing, especially for people navigating pressure, change, or just trying to hold everything together right now.
So I’m going live today at 11:35am (Sydney time) to share some of the practical lessons that have helped me, and that many of you have said you need right now.
It’s been a long time since I’ve done a Facebook Live!
Join me if you’re free.
