The Island is Calling and This Time, I’m Ready

I’m writing this from the deck of our family home in Alofi. The waves are crashing gently below the clifftop, palm trees sway in the warm breeze, and the blue sky stretches endlessly above me. After years of longing, planning, detouring – we are finally back. Niue has welcomed us home.

It feels kinda poetic that we’ve landed here during Libra season, a time that calls us to explore balance, connection, and beauty. Being here brings a kind of harmony I haven’t felt in a long time – the kind that softens you and quiets your mind. The kind that reminds you of who you truly are.

Just a few months ago, I was writing about our original 2022 plan to move to Niue for a year – a plan that shifted and stretched until finally, it landed in this one-month return in October 2025. It feels like both a long time coming and the perfect timing.

The intention back then was to immerse ourselves in island life. We imagined the kids attending the local school, learning the language, experiencing the seasons, and reconnecting with the land. But as life would have it, the universe had other plans. We weren’t quite ready. Instead, we were re-routed to Yallingup.

That detour turned out to be one of the most healing and formative chapters of my life. As a family, we found a slower rhythm. We connected with the land, the sea, and the seasons. We released some of the dysfunction that crept in during our years of city living. And for me personally, it was the space I needed to remember who I really was.

In Yallingup, I felt safe enough to express myself as Tash – the women’s intuitive coach, circle facilitator, reiki practitioner and healer. Within a month of arriving, I held my first circle. It drew in women who would become some of my most soul-aligned friendships. It was the place I found the strength to say no when I used to say yes. The place I got clear on who I was becoming, and what I was here to do.

Eventually, Perth called us back. I returned with some reluctance, fearful that I’d lose the grounded version of myself I had fought so hard to find. I also returned to my government work, and again I worried that a part of me would need to be hidden to fit in. For a long time, I believed that in order to be the intuitive guide version of Tash, I couldn’t be the public servant version. That I had to choose.

But Libra energy has taught me something else – that wholeness isn’t about choosing one version of yourself over another. It’s about weaving the different parts of you into something beautifully balanced. I am all of it – the intuitive, the professional, the mother, the healer – and all of these aspects can co-exist when I’m living from the heart.

Throughout the last few years, I’ve continued to feel the subtle pull of the island. A whisper. A knowing. It has now been over five years since we were last here, and I can feel in every cell of my body that the timing is right.

When I left the island in 2019, I was unknowingly on the edge of a health crisis. An autoimmune illness would soon bring me to my knees and force me to surrender in ways I didn’t even realise I needed. It cracked me open – to receive, to let go of control, to ask for help. But more than that, it forced me to look at the version of me I had been carrying.

I realised I had no idea who I was outside of the roles I played – mother, wife, daughter, employee, friend. Somewhere along the way, I had lost touch with what made me Tash. The illness stripped everything back. It was painful, confronting and, in many ways, necessary. That season became the beginning of my return to self – a journey I’ll be exploring more deeply in the book I’m writing here on the island.

But even now, I can say this: I had to lose the version of me that was performing in order to find the one who could live with presence and truth.

This return feels like a full circle moment. A homecoming. Not just to a place, but to myself. The work we’ve done in the years since 2019 will be integrated here. And I can see now how much Matt and I have shifted. Back then, we were running away from what we didn’t want. Now, we are moving towards the life we are intentionally creating. Had we come in 2022, I don’t believe the structures we had in place would have held. Now, I know they will.

Being back on Niue offers us the space to dream, write, ground and reconnect. Time slows here. We exhale. We remember what matters. Family. Connection. Presence. Fresh food. The sound and feel of the ocean. The feel of bare feet on the earth.

This trip is the beginning of our next chapter. I’m here to write the first draft of my book, The Connected Islander. In fact, I’m already three chapters in. It’s a story about coming home to yourself – through motherhood, healing, cultural reconnection and community. A woman walking between worlds. And there’s no place more fitting to write it than on the deck of my Niuean family home, the land of my birth, the place where I draw my Polynesian heritage from.

In addition to writing, I’ll be recording yoga videos here, weaving the island’s energy into the practice I love. Matt and I will also be anchoring the vision for our first retreat – one that will be designed to inspire and rejuvenate business owners. Even though this dream is still a few years away, we’re planting its roots here, connected to the land and its quiet wisdom.

Being here, now, I’m reminded that balance isn’t something we chase. It’s something we return to, again and again, when we slow down and reconnect with what really matters. As Libra season continues to unfold, I invite you to explore where harmony wants to land in your own life; in your relationships, in your routines, and in the way you speak your truth.

You might like to journal on these:

• Where in your life are you craving more balance or beauty?
• Is there a relationship (with yourself or others) that is ready for healing or clarity?
• How can you honour your truth and still stay connected?

I’ll be sharing more next month as I continue writing and grounding this next chapter. But for now, I’m simply soaking in the peace that being here brings.

Sending you all so much love as we travel this journey together.

Live, Love & Laugh,

Tash x