Your True Life Vision Takes Courage

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When you start acknowledging that you want 'more' in your life, it can be scary. The questions start to come up. Does wanting more mean you need to change everything at once? Does it mean all the good stuff will change too? Does saying it out loud mean you need to make drastic changes immediately?

Then that bloody unhelpful voice kicks in saying, "you can't do it silly, you don't have enough skills or confidence or knowhow AND you're waaaaaaaay too lazy/stupid/unworthy. Besides, even if you did attempt it you would probably fail, fail, FAAAAAIIIIIILLLLLLL!!!!!!"

Does any of that sound familiar?

These questions, answers and thoughts often overwhelm us so much so that we stay in inaction.  The result is that you are left yearning for the wonderful possibilities out there but feeling like you just don't know how to reach them. That gap then exists between where you are now and where you would like to be and that void is often a source of unhappiness...

Does any of that ring a bell?

Change can be daunting. It is the unknown! Is full of uncertainty!  Breaking out from the status quo often is. It means stretching out of your comfort zone when sometimes staying in the 'zone' is well...comfortably warm and safe - like those favourite gungy trackie pants you have (comfy but really not really all that exciting). Plus, the future can feel like it is fraught with potential challenges and 'danger'.

But is it really safe to stay there? Well, if you want an 'okay' life then yes it is. But if you want an amazing life, one that you are truly enamoured with, then the comfort zone becomes a dangerous place to be. It becomes unsafe because you are already aware that there is a better option of life for you out there while you are where you are now. In my experience, if you know it but ignore it, 'things' (blocks barriers, frustration, mediocrity, sickness, unhappiness, unease) happen until you pay attention.

You have to ask yourself if the vision you see in your dreams is worth leaving the status quo and making the effort to get there:

And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. Anais Nin

All I know is that I want a great life. A great life on my own terms. A life I can look back on and say, "Wooooohaaaaaa I gave it my all! I tried and I got more than I could ever dream of. Sometimes I attempted something and even though I was reaching for the stars and I ended up catching the dreamy moon and other times I tried and and I 'failed' but I learned and at least I wasn't left wondering...what if and kicking myself because I didn't have the guts to give it a go."


I am finding the courage to make my life the way I want. I am stepping out of my comfort zone and putting myself out there into the unknown. I am being brave in the face of difficult questions and challenging situations.  I am looking things in the eye and trusting myself that I will find a solution. It is not easy and I get scared. I question myself. I sometimes wonder if another way would be easier. But because I TRULY know it is worth the effort, I'm building my strengths in self-belief, courage and taking forward action. I'm enjoying my today while putting things in place for my tomorrow. For this I am being rewarded with so much magic and so much support showing up in my world.

Trust me, you want to do it without the need for life/death experiences to wake you up to what life can be.

Wake up now if there are parts of your life that are just okay. Wake up now if there are parts you love and parts you hate. Wake up now if it all seems not so fabulous. Because if you do, if you really stand up and look for it, there is a lot of great out there and your life can be so much more than you once thought was possible.

I say all of this as a person who was once in the darkest hell hole you could imagine and is now living in much more sunshine. I'm still on my journey with all its challenges and all its glories but I am so grateful I gave life a go.

What is something you can do today to take a step towards where you want to go and who you want to be? What could you acknowledge or admit that feels true to you without necessarily having to do anything about it yet? How can you give your life a go?

Make it as you wish SSSs. MAKE. IT. AS. YOU. WISH.
Arienne xo

Week In Review: 10 - 16 March:

Somebody asked me if I had more than 24 hours in my day after reading my last week in review. Seriously, I'm trying to learn to be more efficient in my day because I am not often a super productive person! If you take a few minutes to go through your week and note everything down that you did I am SURE you will be pleasantly surprised too. Go on, I DARE YOU to give it a try!

Celebrated my darling Fiance's birthday - pool, dinner, drinks, karaoke and a win on a random pokie machine

Bake my love a chocolate mud cake (seen slightly blurrily above)

Walks and workouts in park with Zander the Dog

Helped with 10thousandgirl Webinars

Social Media Women event

Won a ticket to a social media seminar hosted by She Inspires

Final focus group!

Dealing with difficult real estate agent in Perth...

Full on yoga class! Hello sore muscles!

Coffee with long-time female entrepreneur

Asked to write post for the Women as Entrepreneurs group

Helped friend write her 'elevator pitch'. It is soooooo much easier doing this for someone else than for yourself!

Interesting Selling with Integrity seminar

Coaching systems developed (news to come about this!)

Coaching call with international client :)

Book writing with Zoe

Accountability session - sooooooo useful

Wedding dress research as I am going wedding dress shopping for the first time tomorrow! Excited and kind of nervous...is that normal?

There was quite a bit that I didn't do (ie more blog posts) but I achieved a lot of things that became a focus through the week!

What was a big or small highlight or 'win' of your week SSSs?

Arienne xo

Week In Review: 3 - 9 March: Women, Events and Tech Progress

Flowers from my lovelies ZL & JK

Helped friend clean their old house for her move (aren't we awesome friends?!)

Baked an apple crumble to bring with us for a dinner invitation

Had fabulous dinner cooked for us, enjoyed great dinner while puppies played :)

10thousandgirl Giant Clothes Swap - pre-organisation, setup, help out, clear up

Arienne's Giant Exhaustion due to above

Cleaned house - housekeeping is not one of my strengths, but it makes me feel fab to have clean floors and semi-uncluttered surfaces...

Received beautiful flowers from the 10thousandgirl lovelies (above)

Yoga several times - juicy!

Dinner with friends (unfortunately they didn't get an apple crumble). Super lovely

Police interview due to dodgy neighbour (exciting place we live...)

Real estate agent and their shenanigans - I'm standing in my power!

Friend staying over for a couple of evenings - great chats and a few theta sessions - powerful!

Opened Paypal Biz and set up a Mailchimp newsletter account

Searching for and shortlisting of wordpress website theme (new site coming soon with more)

Coffee with darling Miss C, who I grumpily helped move out of my area

Approached yoga studio to pitch a workshop...waiting to hear positive news!

Miss C booking in Wedding Dress Shopping Experience #1 for me for next week

Attended Women as Entrepreneurs International Women's Day evening

Amazing meeting with two collaborators for upcoming workshops!

Set up 3 meetings with fab women for upcoming weeks

Met a new like-minded pal in the park!

Watched John Carter at the movies with The Man - not bad :)

Enjoyed another great accountibility session

Wrote 10 ways to light your creative spark

Seriously, if you start writing down the things you have accomplished and experienced in the past 7 days you will surprise yourself! Doing this always makes me appreciate the activities I have actually done!

What did you get up to this week SSS?

Arienne xo

10 Ways to Light Your Creative Spark

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Sometimes when we HAVE to work on a project (business plan, report, blog post, whatever) the motivation, enthusiasm and inspiration can leave us. The creativity is all there somewhere inside, you just need to find the spark to get the juices going.

It's often just a change of activity that subtly entices out your imagination.

Here are some actions I have found useful to help me light my creative spark:

1. Take yourself out on an Artist Date
This is a solo excursion somewhere that will be nourishing and invigorating to your creative soul. This could be to the movies, the shopping centre, a beading shop, the beach, an art gallery, a session at cafe, a cupcake bakery, a tourist attraction - basically anywhere that screams out INSPIRATION to you.

Immersing yourself in a different environment while you observe the happenings of nature or of other humans can help you get into the flow.

You could have your notepad, ideas journal or laptop at the ready to capture your creative work when it starts pouring out.

Julia Cameron advocates this as one of her two important tools in The Artist's Way (a fabulous book and well worth a read).

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2. Write in your journal
Just getting 'stuff' out of your head and onto paper can free up space in your mind for more. Write whatever comes to your head whether it makes sense or not! It is not about cultivating the perfect sentances and capturing the right sentiments. It is about expressing yourself.

I soooooooo strongly recommend journalling for working through emotions, getting to know yourself more, getting unstuck, venting (we all need an outlet!) as well as dreaming and planning. There is something magical about getting things written down.

Write everyday if you can, or just as often as you can. If you do it on a regular basis it will change something in you - I've learned that from experience!

Write down whatever is going on in that head of yours for 15 minutes and see if that jolts a spark in you.

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3. Flip through a magazine
One that is visually appealing, not one where you're going to be reading about 'trash' - you know, about Miss Two and questions about discharge (sorry, I just had to ;). One that appeals to the aesthetic in you where there are beautiful pictures or typography. Immerse yourself in that world for a few minutes and see if the spark ignites!

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 4. Doodle, scribble, draw!
Go get yourself a blank piece of paper and some coloured pens, markers or textas. Then draw something. Anything! An item in front of you, something from your imagination, scribble, create an ocean of multi-coloured love hearts, draw a bubble alphabet. Use lots of colours. You don't need to show ANYBODY. So don't judge. It doesn't matter if it doesn't look like anything - be an abstract artiste! Set a timer for 15 mins. Ready, set, go! Are those creative juices starting to flow??

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5. Flip through a cook book 
Or a cooking blog and then look at your cupboard and make something. Measure, chop, slice, stir. Add pinches of salt with exaggerated flourish. Blast some italian opera (because I know that is just loaded and ready to go on your iPod). Present your dish pretty on the plate. Take a pic of it for creative prosperity. Eat it. Then go back to work - that spark is ignited!

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6. Organise something!
A shelf or a drawer or your desk. Clear out your handbag and wallet. Plan out your week ahead. Putting something into order always seems to spark my creativity.

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7. Read or browse something inspiring
Catch up on your fav blogs, browse Pinterest (request an invite if you're not on there yet!), or look at images on we heart it. Seeing the things other people are working on, their perspectives and inspiring articles can be motivating. But only do it for a limited amount of time. It is super easy to get carried away and forget the thing you really should be doing!

8. Get dressed up
Hop in the shower, wash off the cobwebs, put on an empowering outfit, do your hair, paint on a face, spray on some perfume, stand up straight, slip on some heels and voila. You've created a new person with a new perspective! All ready to charge ahead and get some things done (even if no one else can see you!).

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9. Listen to music
LOUD and dance around. Self explanatory...Right? Dance like nobody is watching.

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10. Go for a walk
Get into nature and observe the little things and the big things around you. Breathe deeply. Crouch down and look at a blade of grass. Lie down and gaze up into the sky. Raise your arms and your face to the sun.

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Now go and get that creative project underway! Vamos!

How do you get your creative spark going?

Make it as you wish SSSs!
Arienne xo

Just about to run off to an International Women's Day event - happy IWD everyone!

Week in Review: 25 Feb - 2 March 2012: Quality Time

Zander, Me & The Man on our Camping Escape

The Entrance North Beach

Zander dug a hole then sat in the cool sand. What a smart puppy!
Yes, I have some work to do before the belly is photo ready!

Camping at a dog friendly camp ground on the Central Coast (1.5hrs north of Sydney)

Sad a sad goodbye to Daddy-O who left back to Europe after 11 months here (tears galore) :(

Skyped with London-based sister and experienced extreme jealousy that Mum is there with her 

Fish and chips and movie night with beloved friends

Finally finished Librivox recording. Look out for Chapter 6 in Miss Cayley's Adventures

Published podcast for 10thousandgirl with Sarah Lawless of Blue Stockings Inc (empowering women through education)

Edited client brochure

Worked at uni library for a few hours - good new work spot!

Afternoon sipping tea and catching up with super duper friend whom I love (you reading this Miss??)

Did some theta with a friend (realising my intuition pretty fabulous and that I should trust it more)

Interviewed next 10thousandgirl podcast guest

Quality time with The Man :)

Yoga - only once but I realised how much my body and my spirit misses it and how beneficial it truly is for me

Coffee with lovely 10thousandgirl blog contributor

Happy Friday everyone!

Arienne xo

March 2012 Dreams/February Review

Potential wedding dress? I hope I'd look half as good as Milla!

 Another month gone by already! At least it was a short one so I have some excuse to feel like it flew by :)

My biggest realisation this week is that I am putting a lot of things before Savvy Sassy She. I don't know whether it is because I don't have a clear plan yet for what needs to be done (waiting on getting all focus group info back before I make big decisions) but I am putting other people's priorities before mine.

I fully admit that I am the one allowing it. No one is pushing things onto me. I am either accepting requests or volunteering for things. And that has made me feel like a useful and contributing member of society. But I also see that it is taking away energy from me building what is important: My business and my future.

So I am really going to put my focus there this month. Seeing where I am over-committing myself to others and ensuring that I am doing something everyday to contribute towards my career dreams.

MARCH DREAMS

1. Celebrate the Man's birthday
2. Book accommodation in Paris
3. Organise sister and her boyfriend to come and visit us in Paris (are you reading this Liane?!)
4. Hold last focus group and move forward!
5. Develop my workshop plan and set date (scary exciting)
6. Develop my website (a huge thank you to Bartek (of Evonet & Our Honeymoon Registry) for his offer of technical expertise). 
7. Start Wedding planning (maybe just try on a dress or two...see above)
8. Take part in the International Women's Day 10thousandgirl Opp Swap on Sunday 4th March. Looking forward to finding some treasures while I work!
9. I won a ticket to the fabulous Women as Entrepreneurs WE WIN (Women helping Women in Need) event for International Women's Day on March 8th (get your tickets here!) 
10. Organise garage sale for end of March
11. Clear up the clutter in the different rooms of the house (and use for the garage sale!)
12. And one of the most important things is that I am declaring this the month of ME and Savvy Sassy She

FEBRUARY REVIEW

1. Run first focus group - Done - insightful!
2. Organise focus groups #2 & #3 - Done and run - one more to go
3. Attend Yoga with a View
4. Create and run sales workshop - i started the prep work, but it was postponed by the client to April & May
5. Create budget with The Man
6. Go on a romantic camping escapade - Done! So much fun, but don't know how romantic it was with The Dog around...
7. Paint something (I'm feeling inspired!) -  didn't do - just didn't make the time :(
8. Celebrate valentines day with the fiance ;) - Done - we had a romantic scrabble night and i kicked arse :)
9. Organise garage sale - semi-done, we postponed it until the end of March, though I've started putting things aside. We just need to advertise and I need to go through a few more sections of the house.
10. Do yoga at least 4x a week - I did this for 2 weeks! I went slightly less often for the other two. I really felt a difference when I cut down and see how beneficial it actually is for me.
11. Start connecting with like-minded bloggers - not done, but I'm seeing the importance of this - both with relationships and moving forwards
12. Get my social media groove on... - not really - still grooveless in this area...
13. Recognise the ways the Universe is showing up and supporting my dreams! - done! It is actually amazing when you focus on the things that are supporting you. You start seeing more and more and grow in confidence.

How was your month SSS? Share with me one highlight - I'd love to cheer you on and celebrate with you!

Make it as you wish SSS!
Arienne xo