This is the time of year that we think about the new year that is about to begin. We want to improve ourselves and often make a New Year’s resolution in the spirit that we will be a better version of ourselves. However, a New Year’s resolution is easily broken and its almost a novelty to make it past the first three weeks in January when everyone is fed up, broke and living with the anti-climax after the Christmas buzz. It can feel bleak and hard to keep going with your good intentions. However, this year make 2018 a year when you really make a difference. Instead of making a New Year’s resolution, make life goals instead. As a trained life coach I can assure you that this can make a difference and you CAN achieve what you want to.
I am not suggesting you go and pay out for a private life coach to help you (although I am happy to help you where I can), but instead there are several life coach books on the market that can help you really reach your goals. My personal recommendation is Reinvent Me by Camilla Sacre-Dallerup. Many of you may know Camilla from the world of Strictly where she achieved the glittering heights of becoming the strictly ballroom champion in 2008 after being on the show for six years. Camilla dramatically gave up dancing and has gone on to reinvent herself. She is now a qualified life coach and certified hypnotherapist.
I met Camilla purely by chance. I had been traveling back home from London on a rather crowded train when a lovely lady sat down beside me. We got talking and I told her about me and she told me about herself. We were chatting as if we were old friends - all about mindfulness and self-improvement. It was only towards the end of our conversation that she told me about Strictly – I hadn’t realised who she was as it was out of context. I liked her not for her dancing abilities and achievements but for who she was and the positive aura she has around her. It was a chance meeting. One in a million. I don’t catch the train every day and had no idea which train I would be getting home. Camilla was only over in the UK for a few days as she now lives in the USA – but she just happened to pick the same carriage and chose to sat down next to me. These odds would not be ones I would bet on. But things happen for a reason and I truly believe that a positive attitude brings positive things to your life. She later told me she chose to sat next to me as I had a bright red dress on and that said to her I was a positive person. Her book Reinvent Me, is also very positive. It is small, easy to read and very accessible to start making changes in your life. It is broken down into eight sections to work through and has lots of small exercises to help you to think about what you want to change and how to start to make those positive changes. It’s an amazing book and also had lots of positive examples of positive changes including Camilla’s own journey – after all it’s a very brave thing to give up dancing when it had been her life for the last 20 years.
I reinvented myself after my first marriage collapsed. 17 years together with a negative partner had knocked my confidence. I had to find out who I was again and look at all aspects of my life. I trained as a life coach and became the most positive version of me that I could be. I liked me. (Can you say that about you?). I looked at what I wanted to achieve. My old dreams of being an actress had faded but I still loved theatre. I wanted to use my LAMDA qualifications and reviewing theatre felt the way to do it. My theatre reviews are generally very positive about the performance as I understand the hard work that goes into it. I do not like to be called a critic as it has negative connotations. It feels good to be doing something I love and for the last two years I have been recognised for this as I have been a finalist in the Milton Keynes Digital Awards.
Camilla and I have both reinvented ourselves into the people we want to be. We are still the same people, but the best, most positive versions of ourselves we can be. We have made changes in our lives which were not always easy but have come through them to succeed.
Do you have a big change you are contemplating? Do you want to change career? Move to a new location? End a negative relationship? Or perhaps you want to make smaller changes such as new friends or new hobbies to help fulfil you. No matter how big or small the changes you desire, start reading Reinvent Me and make 2018 the year that this happens to you!
Buy it here.