A Summer of Contrast

As the summer is drawing to a close and autumn moves in with the winds getting cooler on the seafront and the dark nights closing in, it felt like a great time to stop and reflect and we want you to do the same here - it’s been a while since our last blog because there has been so much going on! So hope you enjoy this one...

It has been a bittersweet few months. Life changing moments have occurred and some have brought joy and others tears. Cheryl and I aren’t the kind to sit around and cry into our coffee so we instead look to see what we have learned over these months. It’s just how we think.  

THIS TIME LAST YEAR

From a business perspective it’s been absolutely out of this world. This time last year we were just working to finish our website which had been a very stressful process. As many of you will know who have created a brand from scratch in their own mind, it’s a bit like giving birth. The website felt like a very tangible extension of that vision so it was so important to us that it looked and felt like us. It took us three different designers to get to that stage and when we finally worked with Hollie, we knew we were in the right hands. Anyway, fast forward one year and in what people told us would be a quiet month - we were absolutely run off our feet!  As were our clients who are entrepreneurs too. 

What was amazing though was that even though Cheryl was poorly for some of the summer and Kaleb was on his six week school holidays - we still managed. One of the very best things about having your own business is that you get to design your own life. So we work our business around our life - not the other way around. I didn’t really get to appreciate that so much last year as we were knee deep in panic trying to get ourselves up and running - but one year later, I certainly felt the joy of that.

Being able to take at least one day off every week to spend time with Kaleb doing day trips and just having fun and making memories was incredible. As a woman in senior corporate roles for twenty years, I was either working 60 hour weeks or I was off. I didn’t get to have this flexible blend of doing both - maybe that’s why I appreciate it so much because the contrast is so great. I missed most of the first four years of Kaleb’s life, working away every week. So having these days to go to the Lake District, The Deep, or just to a family fun farm, just felt so special.

SHOCK AND SADNESS

Cheryl lost her brother, very suddenly and very unexpectedly in the summer. Nothing ever really prepares you for that kind of shock and loss.  Seeing your Mam, your other brother grieving so deeply is heart wrenching, yet Cheryl being the incredible human she is, did all she could to support her family. She took some time away from the business to process and really feel what had happened and with the additional coaching of our incredible Dr of Divinity, Erin Fall Haskell, quickly found a place of peace with Christopher’s transition.  

THE BIG 40

Mr E (aka my Hubby, Neil) turned 40. What’s crazy about that, is that we all remember celebrating at his surprise 30th - which seems like two minutes ago! I always remember my Dad saying that time sort of accelerates as you get older. It’s true! Which is why as Cheryl stressed to our community in her Live after Christopher passed, we really do have to make every moment, every day and every opportunity count. Take nothing for granted. We know that at logical level, yet we allow stuff to get in the way. We tell ourselves that we have time, we will see how it goes and our favourite… ‘it will be ok’.

How’s that strategy working out for you?

TIME FOR ACTION

We can’t get apathetic about this. You deserve the best - and the best doesn’t happen from just waiting around and hoping for it! So what gets in the way? Well one of the big things that gets in the way between you logically knowing that action is needed and you then taking action on that desire, is the story that you are telling yourself. In the totally epic Mindset Mastery event we ran in September (which three of the women described as ‘life-changing’ by the way, click here if you want to come to our January event!) we spent time getting the women to work out what their story is right now.

So I am inviting you to do just the same. Don’t just read this blog and say, ‘Oh yeh, I do that too!’ then go back to browsing mindlessly on Insta! 

Get a pad, get a pen and write down:

What I really want to happen this year is…

Then note down:

And the story that I’m telling myself about why that can’t happen is…

Don’t overthink it just write down whatever comes to you.

Now what story do you want this to be? - and write THAT down. Put it in your phone, set it as a daily reminder and commit to just fifteen minutes of action on it every single day for 30 days. Watch the difference it makes. 

Because I want you to be reflecting back on this time a year down the line and think it was the most awesome end to the year yet! Cheryl and I are doing exactly this. We are setting our aspirations high because we want to serve our community in a bigger way. Our dreams are getting bigger and we wish the same for you.

Now Is Your Time.

Love and hugs,

Donna 

P.S. If you want help dreaming bigger and making them happen, why don’t you request a Discovery Call with us? It’s amazing how working with an expert can change how you see your life!