Do Something That Scares You

No matter how old I get Halloween still holds that special magic for me.  I loved bobbing for apples when I was a child and carving the pumpkins.  My children still enjoy getting dressed up (although it's more teenage zombie than fairy or cute ghost nowadays).  Going out trick-or-treating with friends and dressing the house up with giant spiders and plastic bats holds a giddy fascination.  I have been known to wear purple velour and a pointed hat on occasion!

With Halloween fresh in our minds, I thought it was the perfect time to think about the scary stuff - not headless horsemen or flesh eating gremlins - the day-to-day stuff that stops us from achieving our goals.

Many years ago I set myself a challenge to take part in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).  A writing competition to pen 50,000 words in 30 days.  I didn't do it.  Why?  Because I was scared.  Scared of failing, scared of taking part, scared of writing drivel, scared of what people may think. 

How many times have you allowed your fears to stop you from doing something?

Last year I finally took part in NaNoWriMo, of course this was part of my Resolution Challenge, a year full of resolutions that I had to achieve whilst blogging my progress.  It was a fantastic experience and not only did I thoroughly enjoy the event, but I finished with time to spare and the first draft of my debut young adult fantasy novel, Guardians of the Dead.

What had I been so scared of?  After the event I understood how valuable the experience was and realised what I had been missing out on because of my fears.  Before we can achieve we must first face our demons.  My demon looked like me; brown hair, brown eyes, five foot ten with a slight muffin top and laughter lines (I refuse to acknowledge them as wrinkles!)

So how can we do it?  How can we do something that scares us?  During my year of challenges, I faced several demons, all of them were self-made.  Knowing that I was writing my progress here on my blog gave me the strength to get on and do it.  I found the confidence to just write and over time I stopped over-analysing myself and my work and began to enjoy it.  Once this happened I started to receive feedback from people all over the globe.  I'd faced a fear - failure - and came out on the other side unscathed. 

Guest Author Interview - Stephan Myers

Today I am pleased to introduce children's author and illustrator, Stephan Myers. 

 

 

The Fun Five:

 

1.  What part of the world do you come from?

 

I was actually born in Hull.  A Yorkshire man born, but not bred.  I come from a service family and we moved on a regular basis both in the UK and Europe.

 

2.  What did you want to be when you grew up?

 

I wish I could say I had a particular ambition.  I was very much into athletics and it wasn't until later years that I chose a corporate career.

Time Management in 4 Easy Steps

Last week I delivered a course about time management to my Motivate Me workshop ladies.  The response was wonderful, and the evening was a huge success.  As I chatted to the group it became evident that we are prone to reject or forget many self-help tools.   We may see them as yet another chore rather than a way to help ourselves.  Our lives are far too busy to remember all that self-help mojo!

With the festive season screaming towards us it's the perfect time to claim some 'me time' before we all lose ourselves in mince pies and tinsel.  Managing the time we do have means we are more productive.

The term 'time management' is more often associated with the corporate world.  The business masses who fill their day and diary with copious emails, meetings, phone calls and networking events.  I'm exhausted just thinking about it.  Of course, seven years ago I was one of them.  My diary was full; my social calendar was a jumble of events and the children's sports days, parents evenings and school plays filled in any blank space.

Happy Business Birthday To Me!

This week I celebrated one of my greatest achievements.  The sixth birthday of my holistic health business, Body & Soul Holistics.

So much has changed in six years.  My business has made many twists and turns along the way.  As a newbie entrepreneur, I assumed that I needed to offer as many treatments as I could.  I spent huge sums of money and precious time training in everything from the metamorphic technique to waxing.

I hated waxing!  I have a huge amount of respect for all the therapists out there who rip hairs off people's body parts day and night, but it wasn't for me!  Of course, to drop a treatment after you had paid for the course and dedicated hours to training and case studies was a sin, or so I thought.

The further along my spiritual/business journey I travelled, I began to realise that it was okay to walk away from the parts of my job that weren't working for me.  If they weren't adding benefit to my personal journey then why did I keep them in my life?  I took waxing off my treatment list, along with spray tans and facials.

Better Parenting, Better Kids Blog Tour, Day 7.

I'm incredibly excited to introduce a passionate author to my blog today.  I am honoured to host Nonnie on the final day of her blog tour and so without any further delay, over to Nonnie...

 

 

 

Hello, and welcome to the final day of my BETTER PARENTING, BETTER KIDS Blog Tour!  I'm so happy to be here today with my dear friend, Shelley and all her wonderful guests!  I so appreciate you allowing me to share a bit of me with you!

If you've been following my tour, I have been sharing tidbits of advice to help parents, do this job a little better, if they feel they might be failing.  If this is your first day joining us on the tour, then I'd like to invite you back to visit the other stops.  Here is the line-up.  It is my sincerest goal and mission to ensure that my kids and all kids are brought up in a safer world.  With the behavior of some of the kids we see today, if parenting skills don't change and improve, that may not be soon my reality. 

Guest Author Interview - Peter Jones

Today I am joined by Peter Jones author of The Good Guy's Guide To Getting The Girl.

The Fun Five:

1. What part of the world do you come from?

I'm an Essex boy!  Was born and raised in Chelmsford, moved to Southend as soon as I was able (Mum used to take us there on the last day of the summer holidays).  I do have a fondness for London though, living so close.

2.  What did you want to be when you grew up?

One of my earliest memories is kneeling on my grandmother's living room carpet 'making books'.  I'd fold as many sheets of A4 paper in half as I could, and then use her stapler to create a spine.  Then I'd start writing a story and drawing the pictures to go along with it.  Other ambitions came and went, but for the longest time this is what I wanted to do with my life.

15 Ways to Boost Your Well-Being

Writers' block is something I have never had to worry about.  I suffer from the opposite problem of having too much to write and no structure in place to streamline those thoughts.

However, as I was sitting at my laptop ready to type this week's post, I stopped.  I experienced that moment of emptiness with my fingertips hovering over the keys.  Not because I didn't know what to say, but for once in my life, I didn't know quite how to say it.

Allow me to explain.  This week has been a blessing for me, I love my holistic job and facilitated a successful workshop on creating vision boards.  I started my meditation classes up again for the new term and I completed the first edit on my debut fiction novel.  Just this morning I received a beautiful email telling me I had been nominated for another Blogger award (that's two in as many weeks) and a second email asking if I would like to be interviewed for a very prominent blog.  Fantastic!  Last week I checked the sales of my non-fiction book (How I Changed My Life in a Year - http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00KAAUE88) and found that I was still in the top 50 of Amazon best sellers for self-help and memoir.  Feedback continues to be positive and reviews have been incredible.

One Lovely Blog Award

Collecting 'things' is a favourite hobby of mine.  It's an odd phrase but I feel it bunches all the 'nic nacs', 'bric-a-brac' and 'random stuff' I have in my house under the one umbrella.  'Things', it rolls off the tongue nicely doesn't it.  Maybe I was a magpie in a former life, attracted to lustrous objects and glittering paraphernalia.

When I was nominated for the One Lovely Blog Award by Julia http://juliaproofreader.wordpress.com, I believed I had peaked in the collector status.  A shiny blog award is, in my humble opinion, as huge as an Oscar!  Okay, I may have a slight flair for the dramatics, but knowing that someone other than my mum is reading my blog is a big deal.

So Julia, I thank you for taking the time to nominate me, please do take a look at Julia's blog and at her other blogger recommendations - http://juliaproofreader.wordpress.com/2014/08/25/one-lovely-blog-award-and-other-blog-recommendations/

What Would You Tell Your 16 Year Old Self?

It's been a while since I blogged, and as I type this post I feel like a new student returning to school after the summer break.

I was in a fortunate position to take four weeks off work to enjoy the summer holiday with my kids.  My time off also included a step away from blogging.  This meant I developed a nervous twitch on what would have been blog post day, but on the whole I was able to take my own advice, and switch off, unwind and have an incredible summer.

As with any family holiday we document every tourist hotspot, sunset and sunrise, and every international #selfie on our phone, tablet or with a camera - or is this just me?



16 Year Old Shelley

It was as I uploaded the numerous photographs from my iPhone to my laptop that I spotted an old picture in a frame on my wall.

This was taken on my 16th birthday.  The same day I sat my GCSE maths exam - the same day I failed my GCSE maths exam!

My eldest son collected his own GCSE exam results last week, along with many other 16 year olds across the UK.  He did incredibly well - much better than his mother!

Who Said That?

From the old wives tales that our grandparents taught us, to a business mantra that is tossed around the boardroom, we all know one or two quotes that have inspired us.


For me, a motivational quote can be used to boost my own self esteem, or passed on to one of my holistic clients.  Enhancing well-being and inspiring someone to succeed can be as simple as passing on a brief sentence.

We all know that words can harm or heal, I choose to live my life on the healing path and as such I pass on the inspirational quotes and mantras that I've collected over the years.

How To Live a Life Full of Motivation

Life can swerve in a different direction at any point, sometimes you are ready for it but more often than not it flings you unceremoniously from a moving vehicle.

This is what happened to me, but as I look back I see that it wasn't a sudden swerve, more of a winding road that I didn't realise I could get off.

Getting back on track took a huge amount of patience and dedication but with the support of my family I did it. 
For seven years I was trapped in an emotionally and physically abusive marriage.  I was overweight, exhausted and miserable.  In 2004 I found the courage to leave, packing my two, three and five year old children in the car and driving away.

Could You Do The Water Challenge?

During a normal working day I say 'drink more water' a hundred times over.  As a reflexologist it is plainly evident when a client is suffering from dehydration, however, many people are still unaware of just how beneficial drinking water can be.

I remember reading an article in the Daily Mail back in 2013.  Sarah Smith, a 42 year old mother, had taken on a challenge to increase her water intake for four weeks and written up her findings.  The article was eye-opening - you can read it here.

The before and after photographs were what initially attracted me to the article, I had to check she hadn't been photo shopped! I was intrigued to discover how she had succeeded. 

5 Days of Mayhem

Have you ever had one of those weeks where all your best laid plans get thrown out of the window due to something out of your control?  Welcome to my week!

I am an uber organised individual, I live by the mantra 'if it isn't in the diary, it doesn't happen'.  Then one week comes along that throws life into a spin that would put any tornado to shame, however, if I've learnt anything from this week, it's to go with the flow!

Day 1

Great start to the week as I took part in twitter's #indiebooksbeseen promotion.  All indie authors were given the opportunity to post a photograph of themselves holding a poster of their book/s (or a copy of their book). 

The promotion was very well attended and retweets were phenomenal.  It was so lovely to see such a great variety of indie authors taking part and it was a perfect opportunity to connect with such a supportive community.