My adventure this summer

Wow!  What an incredible experience I’ve had the last couple of weeks.  So many learnings and this was a big deal for me.  A bit of a personal post but hoping it might strike a chord and possibly help inspire others.  It’s about following your heart, your intuition, and your dreams.

Having made a difficult choice last year to walk away from a long-term relationship that wasn’t working for me, I was struggling last year to let go.  As most of us know, walking away doesn’t always mean letting go and that took some time and working through.  My key learning from this is to always follow my intuition – it’s my best friend and biggest resource I have – and I discovered it was bang on and always is!  I just ignored it for a while!  Do you listen enough to yours?  Do you know how to?

Earlier last year both my boys (who are now amazing young men who I am super proud of) moved out to live their best lives.  So, I found myself on my own for the first time since my 20s!  And I don’t mind sharing it was strange and if I’m honest, an unwelcome, unfamiliar, and uncomfortable feeling!  I feared being alone and worried I would be lonely.  It would have been so easy to throw myself into another relationship, but I wanted to get to know me again.  So, I sat with the uncomfortable feeling.  Isn’t it interesting how when you have time alone, you start to hear what you tell yourself!  I realised, I had far too many unhelpful thoughts and self-judgement!  When did you last really catch your inner talk or did you, like me, busy yourself so you didn’t have to hear them?  Well, I made that step to address them, enough with that talk Michelle!

I’m also blessed to have some incredible people in my life. Thanks to the lovely @lorna Chippendale for the great book, Positive Intelligence, which I read while I was away and helped me spot The Judge saboteur at work!  Also, good friend @Jules Wyman who encouraged me to think about what brings me joy and I’ve been thinking on that a lot these last few months.  And another fab friend @Lisa Clifford who got me thinking about my hopes and dreams earlier this year and making some plans.  And not forgetting the wonderful @Tracey Flannery, my business partner, and my lovely team for supporting me on this adventure.  Surrounding yourself with positive people isn’t just an age-old cliché, it really matters to your life outcome. Do you have the right people around you, those who feed your heart and soul?

All those things came together beautifully when I made the decision to travel to California to train as an equine leadership facilitator and coach.  I was scared about travelling all that way on my own but decided to top it with two nights in San Francisco and tail it with driving down to San Diego along the Pacific Highway, with a few stops on the way – well, if you’re going to do it, you may as well go for it!!  I was brave and it was an amazing experience and life changing for me!   When did you last make a big brave decision and follow your dreams even though it scared the heebie-jeebies out of you?

Working with @allysa Aubrey, @Gaby Fabian, and their team of horses taught me so much about myself, my leadership, and how I approach life.  I have always loved the equine work we do with leaders; it really is so insightful for people and often life changing.  One of the horses left a big pile of poo for me which I happily scooped up with a shovel and threw in a wheelbarrow to be left in the middle of a field in Tomales (a metaphor for so much and about leaving our **** behind)!  One of the things I love about the horses is that whatever we need to learn, they offer this to everyone who works with them, with honesty and lack of judgement and if we are open to it, it is always such a gift.

And isn’t it funny how things come full circle.  12 years ago, another incredible woman @daphne Taylor took me for a day to work with horses and shortly afterwards I met @Julia Felton who is the wonderful woman who we work with now on our leadership programme and enables us to give so many great people a similar opportunity. And now, I’m going to get to do some of this work myself and I genuinely can’t wait!

In summary, I’ve had the opportunity to learn so much these last few weeks: –

• Always follow your intuition, never ignore it.
• Being uncomfortable is what brings learning.
• Do the work on you, it might feel hard sometimes, but it will pay dividends.
• Being alone doesn’t mean being lonely – it helps you to become at “at one” with yourself.
• There is no room for judgement of self or others if you want to live your best life.
• Be brave and follow your dreams.

I know I’m going to continue to follow mine ❤️

Will you follow yours? I would love to hear about them