Over the Christmas and New Year period, I’ve had the pleasure of catching up and spending time with friends and family that I have not seen for years.
It was great to notice that whilst in many ways we were the same, laughing at many shared experiences, in a lot of ways we were also very different or as I like to believe we have blossomed into being our true self.
I love that I have changed so much, that now I am following a burning desire within me path of inspiring women to understand who they are, to be true to themselves and ultimately to become their own best friend.
Whilst many of my friends and family do not understand why I so easily walked away from a successful CFO professional life, they do actually recognise that I am now more fun, balanced and a fulfilled person to be around.Courageously creating your life 
In order to consciously create balance, we have to assess what is important to us. The many demands of modern life can push us to make choices that can put us off balance and have a detrimental effect on our habits, relationships, health and career. In creating a balanced lifestyle, we have to decide how much time and energy we are willing to devote to the different areas of our lives.

There are nine areas of our life; mentally, professionally, financially, socially, family, physically spiritually, emotionally and environmentally. Visualise your life as a life-house containing seven rooms. You balance your life-house through visiting and spending time in each room, each week.
Most people tend to spend their time in only a couple of rooms, though unless we go into every room every week, even if only to keep it aired, we are not complete.
When I was a CFO, I loved my perceived successful life, though in hindsight, I was actually living in a ground-hog day daze; Working, eating, and drinking too much, always in fight mode, totally denying my feminine side, running on empty, unfulfilled, not understanding that adrenalin in a woman’s body causes burnout, exhaustion, and disconnectedness.
To awaken from a ground hog day daze requires courage especially when well meaning friends would like you to remain as you are. When you are consciously changing who you are, it’s important to remember Plato’s infamous quote

“People are like dirt. They either nourish you and help you grow as a person, or they can stunt your growth and make you wilt and die.”

Blossoming and growing into your true self is the only true option and sometimes you have to thank some friends for the times you shared, and move on as the misalignment will not serve either one of you.

Embrace who you are now
Life is impermanent and it’s great to remember that there is only one person you are guaranteed to spend your entire life with and that is YOU.

If you’re feeling you are living in a ground-hog day daze and would like to awaken, here’s a simple stepped process that leads to your awakening:

1. Gratitude: Recognising and being grateful for everything that is in your life assists you to be kinder to yourself and therefore generally to everyone else in your life. The more you appreciate your life, the more you will have to be thankful for.
2. Love: Gratitude leads to a loving heart, where you will love who you are now. You’ll love your perfectly imperfect self. Knowing you are as you’re meant to be NOW.
3. Inspiration: When you’re grateful and love who you are now, inspiration builds in your body, inspiring you to create the life of your dreams and desires. The embers of your inspired burning desire will be ignited.
4. Enthusiasm & Excitement:  Once the inspired burning desires have been ignited, you have been awakened. The enthusiasm for a balanced life is what drives you as you know through persistence, everything can be achieved.

Let’s make 2016 the year for you to courageously live the life of your dreams and desires, even the ones that you have not thought about yet.