Synchronicity, books, and grabbing those opportunities that feel just right …
For many years, I just lived my life without much curiosity, although that’s not to say that it held me back from doing things; far from it – I did lots! However, those were the years with my ex-husband, all 20 of them, and in retrospect, I see now that my life really started after my marriage ended 17 years ago.
Without going into too much detail, I used my energy to just keep on top during those years, and post-divorce, as I embarked on a whole new life, I became curious. In many respects, I’d been cocooned away from ‘normal’ life and, as such, became a sponge for knowledge – absorbing huge amounts in short spaces of time to bring myself up to speed with, well, everything.
I was excited, I said ‘yes’ to stuff, I followed my instincts, and embraced so much as a result.
And I still do!
I get excited about life generally, and the opportunities that arise and I still love learning, exploring, and finding out more about myself, and what I love doing, on a regular basis.
If you are a regular reader of my blog posts and weekly emails, you’ll know that I grabbed one of those opportunities last year when I launched my podcast Harnessing Happiness on my birthday in October.
Since then, I have recorded over 50 episodes, whether they have been Happy Clappy 10-minute sound bites, or guest episodes that generally last around 40 minutes. Although the latter can end up being a little longer to be honest, as I always get so absorbed chatting to my guests and the time seems to vanish! 😱
Another one of those opportunities presented itself last week.
I’d been recording an episode with the lovely Serena Dodds, a Positive Psychology Coach, Life Mentor and Breathwork Facilitator, and as we wrapped up, we got chatting about a book project that she is working on and had mentioned to me previously.
In short, when asked if I was interested in contributing a chapter to her project, I said yes!
As it happens, I am in the process of writing my second book (it has been waiting for my attention for quite some time actually!) Without giving too much away, my fab editor, Emma, and I agreed that we should take out three chapters from my first book http://mybook.to/shininglightyou and create independent books based on the material within these chapters. The books will be aimed at students at various stages of education as well as their parents, carers, and educators
I am mindful that I now need to allocate some time to get this book finalised. Emma and I work brilliantly together (how we met is another post for another day, but let’s say synchronicity played a massive part in our meeting, and we’ve been firm friends since 2016).
However, thanks to my conversation with Serena, the opportunity for me to get involved in her ‘collaborative book project featuring inspirational stories from misunderstood entrepreneurs who took the leap to follow their dreams’ has presented me with a fabulous opportunity that will enable me to share my story and, all being well, impact and inspire readers globally.
This is very much aligned with the ethos of my https://bit.ly/Harnessing_Happiness podcast; the project will include chapters contributed by some previous guests too. The whole energy around this book project feels right and I am going to go for it – it’s something fresh, and whilst it could also be deemed ‘shiny object syndrome’, it hopefully won’t take me too long to write.
I’ve been asked to submit 2000 words, and since my blog posts are usually around 1000, I think the difficulty might arise in trying to keep the word count down! 😅
And to bring this full circle, writing this chapter will be, in many respects, the first time that I start to tell my story. It’s a story of dramatic change, that saw me leave my ex-husband when my son was 6 years old, spend 9 months (which was only supposed to be 3 months) living my parents before embarking on a new life in my own house, the one I am still living in now.
Within the chapter, I plan to discuss my move from employment to self-employment, to qualifying as a performance coach, to setting up my limited company and, in as few words as possible, the challenges I faced along the way. I do also want to include elements of my personal development journey … I can see I have a challenge on my hands already, but I can’t wait to embrace it!
I want to share my story to inspire the reader, to show that you can achieve what you want to achieve when you set intentions, believe in yourself, trust, and accept the stuff that happens that you can’t change along the way, but from which you can grow as a person. I’ll be sharing the steps into the unknown that I took, which built my inner strength and have led to my network of friends, contacts and connections evolving exponentially over the years, having started with virtually zero in 2005.
And maybe, just maybe, this chapter will be the start of a chain reaction of other fabulous stuff happening. In fact, my instinct tells me that this is very much the case.
In reflection, I note that:
- My life has changed beyond recognition over the last 17 years, and I am excited to have the opportunity to share just a part of my journey that I hope will inspire others.
- Synchronicity is a powerful thing – being tuned in, listening to your instinct and intuition, and following what feels right brings about exciting opportunities, connections, progression.
- I do need to get my own book finished!
- Writing this chapter might just be the kick-start I need!
- I love my podcast – I have met and talked to so many interesting and inspiring guests and love being able to share their stories with listeners across the globe – 11,500 all-time downloads is a very exciting number to have reached already.
- I’ll rely on Emma to edit my chapter to keep it within the 2000 words.
- Opportunities are around us all of the time … when we make choices and decisions, our path unfolds in front of us, and presents us with all nature of experiences that we can embrace and learn from.
- I love being curious.
- I love being me.
- I love evolving and learning and inspiring others.
- I love life.
- I definitely use too many words on a regular basis!
I also believe that everything is working out wonderfully, and accept what I can and cannot change, and the trajectory that I have put myself on. There’s still lots that I want to do and get involved in, so let’s just see what I’m presented with next!
