Fresh New Season

Hi everyone, its' Nicole here! Hope you all had a sensational summer. This time of year is bitter sweet, summer is heading out and autumn is moving in. The Calgary morning air is fresh, crisp and daytime temperatures are cooler.

For some reason, this time feels like time to purge, clean out closets, tidy shoes and get ready for a wardrobe change.

Autumn is my New Year! Fresh starts. New beginnings. Refreshed routines and rituals. With all this good happening in my heart, its also heavy with the happenings of the world Afghanistan, Haiti, Fires in British Columbia, flooding globally, storms, COVID - I’m hoping to bless you with some joy for a new season.

After a long winter of lockdowns, I started to feel some freedom with restrictions lifting and vaccination appointments being had. April was welcomed with a fantastic opportunity to share my recovery story on the Bubble Hour https://jeanmccarthy.ca/2021/04/26/the-bubble-hour-s9e16-nicole-cameron/

May Saturday afternoons were filled with a course on “How to Write a Non-fiction Book”. Hands on writing with lecture - a truly amazing experience. I’ve been working diligently on my first book since then.

June and July we enjoyed beautiful big blue Alberta skies and sunny warm summer weather. When I wasn’t coaching clients or teaching myself how to write my first non-fiction book, I listened to “The Gifts of Imperfection” with a 10 year anniversary hard copy book, Brene Brown and her sister’s all on podcast. It was full of laughter and lovely life nuggets. If you haven’t listened, I encourage you to do so. Great way to start a new season, a kind of self check-in.

August brought a beautiful visit to Christina Lake, BC to visit my cousins retirement home. Several families gathered for a week. We spent time at the lake, boating, swimming, sharing meals, lots of conversations. For a short time, as a kid I lived in Rossland, BC, a short drive from the lake. I wanted Hal to see another place I had lived. We found our house where I lived with my uncle and cousin’s. Saw where my old school had been before it burnt down and walked main street as I had done as an 11 year old. I was a little shocked at how much I remembered and how much I loved this small town. The other little gem I fell in love with was Grand Forks. They have a great downtown with lovely boutiques, live street music, thank you Ray, and warm friendly people. One of my most favorite things is to visit small towns. On our way home to Calgary, we stayed the night in Fernie to breakup the drive and we had a wonderful meal at a Himalayan restaurant. Next year we’ve decided to spend the night in Cranbrook!

Here we are, September 1 and autumn is moving in. I pray he comes slowly so we can enjoy this spectacular season. My blessing for you all is to love yourself, love your people! Be kind to each other and enjoy every single moment with each one another. If you need help, please reach out, I have big ears to hear you with. Drop me a note if you ever want to connect.

Hold for the Next Available Agent....

What should I do while on hold with an airline, write a blog.

I’ve been on hold for three hours with WestJet and for those Canadian readers can appreciate the patience it takes to wait for the next available agent. Early this morning I booked a flight online using our banked credits and it appears to have gone sideways. I chose to book online, which I never do, thinking it would be easy and simple, but I was wrong. I was hoping not to have to wait for an agent, and here I am, waiting for an agent.

After a long, dark, cold and locked down winter, freedom grew as the days got longer and the vaccine shots were offered to everyone, shots where being scheduled and people were experiencing hope. There was a real buzz of what people where experiencing.

Spring sprung starting with an April email from a beautiful woman. A special invitation was presented to me to join a group of like minded women to learn how to write a non-fiction book. For some reason I didn’t have to ponder this offer very long. I quickly took this to my husband, Hal, who has been encouraging me for years to write a book. He quickly said “I think you should do it”.

That was that, I signed up and paid for my spot. Then I got thinking about this beautiful woman who invited me, “she has a podcast called the “Bubble Hour” maybe I could be of service to her and her listeners and share my recovery story?” So I offered and she accepted.

Whenever I offer to share my story, I always regret it after, the result of fear and a mean inner critic chirping in my head. I acknowledge and push through the feelings and thoughts with prayer and meditation and do it anyway!!

During the preparation for the Bubble Hour, I was mindful to share only my story, not my sister’s story or cousin’s story or my husband’s story. This would be the first time my story would be recorded and archived. The experience was fabulous and I learned that I needed to do more work around trying to control outcomes. I kept telling myself, just touch one person with hope, and that was the intention. Visit this link to hear the Bubble Hour interview About Coach with Nicole - Meet Nicole Cameron — Coach with Nicole

May arrives and I’m excited for the non-fiction book writing course. We’ll meet for four Saturdays 3.5 hours each time. I went into this experience without any expectations and I had a wonderful time. The leaders were fantastic, the other beginner writers were wonderful! We learned, we laughed, we wrote and we encouraged each other. I loved every minute of it! Our fierce leaders were Catherine Greer in Sydney Australia, and Jean McCarthy in Alberta, Canada. Please visit them at Catherine Greer and Jean McCarthy – Author, Blogger, Podcast Host for their list of books, blogs and podcast.

Still On Hold - Update: 3 hours 43 minutes

June was filled with teaching myself how to write a book, research for the book, interviews for the book, and lots of mental work reminding myself that I’m a beginner and teaching myself how to write a book. There were emails to Jean and Catherine asking for help and wondering if what I was going through was normal, they both continued to encourage me and lift me up. I continued to write.

Here we are in July and I’ve invested in a laptop and write outside every chance I have. I’ve created a writing schedule around my coaching calendar for clients and its working really well. I am consciously reminding myself of time boundaries and being disciplined to my clients and my writing with pockets of time for client reschedules, mentorship calls and booking conversations about coaching with curious people.

Still On Hold - Update: 4 hour wait time - Meghan picked with a friendly and warm “Hello”. Another hour and our flights are all organized and booked!! All set to spend my 55th birthday on the beach.

Two weeks ago I came across an Instagram post, Brene Brown announcing she’s hosting a series of discussions with her twin sisters about “The Gifts of Imperfections”. I jumped on “Unlocking Us” podcast via Spotify to get caught up, since the discussions started at the end of June. “The Gifts” was an instrumental book in my early years of sobriety. If you really want to do personal work, start with this book and podcast. Then call me for some coaching hours and we’ll get busy working on real sustainable change. If you don’t know anything about coaching, let’s have a conversation. You can reach me at nicole@coachwithnicole.ca.

Until next time, be patient, good things happen when we’re patient. Stay connected. Want to make some changes to your life, ask for help!

Coaching is Continuous Learning

When I began coaching with Nicole, I assumed this was a “one and done Fix It” to resolve a single issue. At the time, I was glaring at the pending arrival of my 60’s. Having gratefully recovered from alcoholism in the previous decade, I sold the business I had nurtured for years, and started looking for a new purpose to define myself as a seasoned “Woke” woman.

• Who would I be without a prestigious title?

• Why was my body hinting that good health was not to be taken for granted?

• How could I keep growing and learning? The prospect of losing my curiosity was literally terrifying as was the notion of becoming invisible.

Thanks to the skills of Nicole Cameron, an intuitive Recovery Coach, my Fix It fantasy was diplomatically dismissed and promptly replaced by a guided journey of self-discovery. As I age, my yearning to explore the path of continuous learning is stronger than ever. Coaching has given me the trail-map to find and share the hidden treasures of my life. The hunt is exhilarating, especially when my blessed grandchildren come along for the adventure.

Sharing our experience, strength, and hope is the precious gift of aging.

Thank you, Nicole, for helping me discover this.

Lynn Haley

Letter to the amazing 20 and 30 year old's in our life

The new year has brought so many gifts and its only the second week of 2021.

My husband, Hal, and I have had the most wonderful conversations with our nieces and nephews all in their 20’s and early 30’s. New Years Day we arranged a parking lot visit with our niece and her lovely boyfriend before they headed back to Saskatchewan and the N.W.T. We shared catch up stories and plans for their future. Later that afternoon, we received a call from the roads of Prince Edward Island, our nephew and his new bride (a new niece for us). Discussed their plans and excitement of expecting their first child and how they’ll navigate the new addition. This past weekend, a wonderful facetime discussion with another nephew from Prince Edward Island and his girlfriend, curious about how I started my coaching business. Oh and of course can’t forget about our your YYC nephew’s texts and backyard movie clips throughout the holidays. We had a fantastic social distanced visit in Red Deer with my sister, niece and two great nieces. All the while, being blessed with mentoring younger women here in Calgary.

The reason for my share about all these young people is they all have one thing in common, they aren’t afraid, shameful, prideful, or embarrassed to ask for advice, assistance, or direction. They all know how to ask for help!

This experience has encouraged me to think back as to what I was like at their age…I was full of fear navigating life without very little humility to ask for help. My analytical thought process of all or nothing, black and white, right and wrong, wasn’t allowing me to see the grey in my life, too bad because this is exactly where the opportunities lived. If I wasn’t walking the catwalk in Japan I certainly wasn’t going to continue to do these bridal shows at Edmonton’s convention center. If I couldn’t have it all, I didn’t want any of it. I wasn’t able to ask for help. I wasn’t able to see what I was missing. I made poor decisions based on generational beliefs that buried my creativeness, free-spirited and adventurous character.

Hal and I are so grateful for the young people in our life, they teach us as much as we teach them. I’m shown time and time again by these young folks, that humility and being teachable are true strengths in nurturing character and moving through life intentionally. This blog is a shout out to all the wonderful young people in our lives, I’m excited to continue to watch you grow and navigate life.

Always here to learn from you, listen and share with you!

Nicole and Hal

XO

Gifts of Sobriety - Gratitude

This was truly is the most cherished gift of sobriety, a daily gratitude practice.  This is where I started learning how to get out of myself and focus on the good happening around me and within me.  This gift was the beginning.  When sorrow of a sixth miscarriage showed up in early recovery, it was this gift that showed me how to feel and move through the grief, pain, and loss instead of pushing it down.  I used this practice to focus on what was good in a very painful time. Gratitude keeps me out of self centered fear and victimhood. Today I’m victorious!

Gifts of Sobriety - Changed Perception

The miracle of sobriety has brought about the gift in a change in my perception.  I have shifted living from fear based to faith based, from negative to positive, and from dark to light.  I’ve been given the opportunity to let go of prejudices that kept me sick in alcoholism, codependence, and unhealthy attachment styles.   I am ecstatic that I have been taught and willing to receive new perceptions of the world.  All of this is a practice, daily routines and a choice I seek daily. The change is not wished for its worked for.

Gifts of Sobriety - Maturity

This gift of maturity has cut the cord from self-seeking and self-centeredness.  Addiction brought a sense that I wasn’t getting what I thought I needed or thought I wanted.  This kept me immature and fearful.   Through maturity I see with clarity how what I thought I needed and wanted was not allowing me to grow. The underlying fear created all kinds of barriers. Today I receive maturity through living out my core values, specifically honesty. I’m so grateful I can show up in service for others without score keeping or expecting something in return.

Gifts of Sobriety - Choice

Once I received the gift of humility, the power of choice came quickly, and it brought the power to act and to make decisions for myself.  I have my personal power in perspective by seeing through faith that God is the True Power.  While in addiction, I had no choice in anything, alcohol stole everything from me, I was its slave, but in recovery, I know who I am and I have choice.  Today I choose love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and gentleness.

Gifts of Sobriety - Humility

If I had a favorite gift this one might be it! 

Humility has given me a strong sense of who I am and a clearer vision of myself.  I am no longer in judgement of myself.  With humility I can say, “This is what I did, it’s done.”  My mistakes/failures are simply my mistakes/failures; they do not define me.  I humbly forgive myself and ask for help to do things differently and use them for good moving forward.  Today, I see things as they are.  True humility gives me an understanding of self – I realize my limitations and acknowledge my strengths.  This quote crossed my path.  It reads: “The true way to be humble is not to stoop until you’re lower than yourself but to stand at your real height against some higher nature that will show you the smallness of your greatness.”  Being great and small at the same time is an interesting idea.

Gifts of Sobriety - Wholeness

Connecting my feelings and beliefs with my actions has lead me to living a life of wholeness or integrity.  Unifying my inner and outer life creates completeness.   Today I know who I am, what I value, what my priorities are, and what I think and feel.  This is the first time in my life that I have made these connections and is all a result of living sober.