Woman Wednesday: Alison

 

 

 

 


 

52595295_759116247801948_6688451140113137664_n

 

53333118_247124612861682_2861140722482937856_n

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alison & My Lilianas would love to hear from you! Comment below!  

Follow us on Instagram.

Connect with us on Facebook.

Woman Wednesday: Felissa

*Note: Woman Wednesday is a part of our blog. Each Woman Wednesday post will feature a woman who would like to share information in the hopes of inspiring and motivating other women. Comments are welcome below.        


Q and A with Felissa, Atlanta, Georgia  

“People will judge you, try to change you, try to break you, and even try to stop you. But that is all in the process of getting to the top!” 

 

Q: What are you passionate about?

A: I wanted to have a career where I could give back to people in a real impactful way. I had always wanted to help others and make a difference. Although teaching in the classroom was something I loved, I never felt like I could create the life I desired. Six years ago, I was a tired, overweight mom of two with no energy. 

 

I was always looking and doing the “next best diet” and as everyone knows, diets are not sustainable for life.  I finally decided it was time to educate myself on nutrition and health so I could create a healthy lifestyle for myself and my family. After losing 40 pounds and stopping being such a skeptic, I started sharing my success story with others. I partnered with a health and wellness company and a nutritionist and created a career that would inspire and empower people to live their best life through a journey of nutrition, wellness, and creating a healthy mind and body. 

 

my before_after2

 

I was only looking to drop a few pounds and get my energy back, and what I found was a community of people with a vision that empowers others to do more than they thought they were capable of doing. As I continued to share my story: of the nutrition and our life-changing opportunity, to my surprise, by the end of that year, I surpassed my teaching income and decided to jump in with both feet (well, sort of). 

 

Actually, when I let go of worrying about what other people thought of me, and was open to new opportunities and possibilities, and that was when my life changed. I cared too much about what other people thought of me, and it prevented me from doing the things I wanted to do or being who I truly was. This has given me a sense of achievement, purpose, and community and a profession where I can be my own BOSS. Every day, I have the opportunity to help people change their quality of life both physically and financially. That feels pretty amazing.   

 

Q: What were your younger years like?

I had a wonderful childhood and was raised in a very loving home in Savannah, GA.  My parents always supported me and wanted me to enjoy every minute of life.  I graduated from the University of Georgia, where I received a bachelor’s degree in Audiology and Speech Pathology and then continued to Georgia State University, where I received my master’s degree in the Education of Deaf and Hard of Hearing.  I then taught grades kindergarten through fifth grade over the next 12 years.  

 

family

 

During the last few years I was teaching, I began to realize I wanted more than just living for weekends and holidays. I found a way to plan my work and passion to help others around my life verses planning my life around my work—working days and hours that were best for me, with no cap on the amount of income I could earn. 

 

 

Q: What is something valuable you’ve learned that you’d like others to know? 

A: I learned very quickly that big dreams don’t come easily. People will judge you, try to change you, try to break you, and even try to stop you. But that is all in the process of getting to the top! Learning to get comfortable with the uncomfortable was an important lesson for me and not easy. All my life, I cared what others thought of me. Life is better when you’re not so concerned about how other people will view you for your actions, choices, and decisions. 

 

on stage (1)

 

Sometimes you have to risk so much for a dream no one can see but you.  It became very apparent that I had to surround myself with people who supported me on my journey and would be there to lift me up when I fell (because I fell a lot). Whether it was the weight loss, the career change, or my new positive outlook on life, I had to stop feeling guilty about the decisions I made. I have had many challenges along the way. I could not make excuses anymore. It was time for results, and you can’t have both! If you take anything away from my story, I hope you will learn to be authentically, unapologetically you because it is your ultimate freedom and where joy is found.

 

 

70240848_2406239586158778_1592403857076387840_n

 

 

Q: What does feminism mean to you? 

A: Feminism advocates for social, political, and economic equality for men and women. 

 

 

Connect with me! I’d love to chat with you! 

Felissa Covin
Make the Shift
Healthy Mind and Body

 

Thoughts, questions, or comments?

Comment below! 🙂

Woman Wednesday: Alison

*Note: Woman Wednesday is a part of our blog. Each Woman Wednesday post will feature a woman who would like to share information in the hopes of inspiring and motivating other women. Comments are welcome below.       


 

Q and A with Alison, Queensland, Australia 

 

“So, if you want to make it anywhere in this world with happiness and contentment, you need to be your own best friend and get to a level of self-awareness that supports your lifestyle and personal expectations.”

 

 

Q: What are you passionate about?

A: I am a clarity and success coach and mindfulness consultant. I am passionate about people finding their happiness, purpose, and fulfillment in this world by creating conscious businesses. Being an intuitive empath, it is natural for me to feel into what is required to support people while shining a light on the areas of growth and service required with ease and support to bring comfort and kindness.

I have a background in corporate and government strategic leadership and management in the UK and New Zealand and although it was fulfilling for a time, I was always outgrowing the projects and teams and organizations. My values and boundaries were always getting stretched and compromised, and I never felt comfortable in these environments for long. As you can imagine, it was in direct conflict with my empathic nature. Yet, my business brain loved the strategic improvement aspects.

The catalyst to quit the corporate world to launch my own coaching business came following the birth of my first child. When I announced that I was pregnant, I was met with negativity and views which contradicted how I envisioned my motherhood journey would be. Eventually, I chose to ignore these opinions and lived mindfully during my first year as a new mum. It was exactly how I envisioned it would be.

 

 

52999894_499081850497124_5247884483008397312_n

I wanted to take what I had learned about mindfulness during my maternity leave and turn it into a fulfilling business to help others. Combining all my coaching, business, and strategic experience, supporting other intuitive empaths not cut out for organizations that didn’t fit their ideals.

I am currently working on so much. I always have projects on the go. However, I am most excited about the recent launch of my newest group coaching program which follows on from my Conscious Creation Business Accelerator, a 12-week Business Building group program, which leads into The Accelerator MasterCircle, my 6-month advanced and exclusive program for my Accelerator graduates.

 

52595295_759116247801948_6688451140113137664_n

 

 

Q: What is something valuable you’ve learned that you’d like others to know?

A: There is immense power in owning your story and being able to accept your pathway and being vulnerable to others. Through this process, you will regain all the control and personal power, respect, and admiration you seek. Although none of that matters if you do not first truly honor, respect, know, like and trust yourself.

So, if you want to make it anywhere in this world with happiness and contentment, you need to be your own best friend and get to a level of self-awareness that supports your lifestyle and personal expectations.

Quality of life is born from within initially, as success is a feeling, it does not come from outside in the initial instances.

 

53333118_247124612861682_2861140722482937856_n

 

 

Q: What were your younger years like? 

A. I grew up in the UK in Hertfordshire, and in the main, I had a great life. However, my personal journey to success wasn’t straightforward, when I reflect upon it now. I had chosen to leave university before I received my degree as I didn’t really know who I was or what I wanted to do and I wasn’t invested enough in the formal education system at the time. I had a lot of life to experience and a lot of growing to do.
Soon after starting my chosen career, I fell quite ill and was, not long after, diagnosed with viral Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. A debilitating illness which meant that my immune system was so weak I was bed-ridden for months. This took its toll on my journey to finding my purpose; however, looking back this became a big part of who I am because even then, I refused to be limited by the limits of my physical form and I did as much work on my mindset and emotions as possible to manage my rehabilitation. As a result, I managed to make a full recovery—even though it took the best part of 5 years of my life.

 

52495929_2446995271994488_3479493039603318784_n
While working as a business manager in the UK, I experienced work-related stress after government restructures saw my entire team’s roles at risk, which in part, began my drive for authentic, conscious living after disagreeing with the fundamentals of the change. It was a really challenging time, trying to stand up for what I believed in, while consciously role modeling the behaviors that I believed would protect and support our people adequately. Looking back, I can see how this also shaped my pathway to my ‘Purpose’ and made me the person I am today, able to stand strong for what I believe in and actively guide others to find their same personal power within to build their own authentic lives, consciously create, and believe in what they want from life.
Without any of these experiences, and a whole heap of others, I would not be where I am today, so no matter how turbulent or challenging, I am grateful for those lessons and experiences because today I am living the life I only ever once dreamed of.

 

Q: What does feminism mean to you? 

A: Honoring our unique abilities as women and appreciating what we bring to the table. I am not an anti-male or only pro-women. I believe we are equal and each has skill sets that are needed and required. Working as teams we will succeed in more ways.

The same with women working together in more ways—we will succeed more than when we compete. So, feminism is support, connection, and collaboration. Rising as one.

 

 

Connect with me! I’d love to chat with you! 

 

Alison Callan is a Global Clarity & Success Coach, a mindfulness consultant, speaker and Co-Author of the #1 best-selling book ‘You Are Meant For More.’

 

Website – www.alisoncallan.com

Facebook Group – Conscious Creation Community – https://m.facebook.com/groups/241746812875094

Facebook – www.facebook.com/alisoncallan3c/

LinkedIn – http://bit.ly/MeonLi

Book – www.alisoncallan.com/MFM/

 

 

 

 

 

Alison & My Lilianas would love to hear from you! Comment below!  

Follow us on Instagram.

Connect with us on Facebook.

Woman Wednesday: Leire

*Note: Woman Wednesday is a part of our blog. Each Woman Wednesday post will feature a woman who would like to share information in the hopes of inspiring and motivating other women. Comments are welcome below.  


 

Q and A with Leire H., Barcelona, Spain (originally from Bilbao, Spain)

 

“Time has made me realize that it is good to try to be the best you can be and give the very best you can, but failure is permitted. And it is failure that made me learn many times.”

 

Q: What are you passionate about?

A: I try to be passionate about everything I do. I work in Barcelona, Spain, as a human resources recruiter for a Dutch company. I like working with people because I think it is very enriching. There is a quote I love that says, “I learned more of what I know from people than from books.” Very similar to that, I love psychology. I always try to understand why people behave, feel, and think as they do. Apart from that, my real passion is aviation and traveling. My last trip was to Canada last summer, and I am already planning this year’s trips: France and Malaysia!

 

51533567_1170622586447514_6840003059767050240_n

 

 

I am lucky to have an amazing family who loved and supported me more than anybody did and will ever do. My parents were also very strict with me and my studies especially. I remember my childhood as a very happy period, though, and I am convinced that I am who I am today because of them.

 

 

Q: What is something valuable you’ve learned that you’d like others to know?

A: I have learned to enjoy every moment. I wish I could go back to my 16-year-old self and tell her that nothing in life is as important as you think it is when you think about it. Everything in life moves on and changes, and everything is about different stages.

 

 

51449309_243562819895328_448460242867453952_n

 

Also, I have always been very self-demanding, and that leads to many frustrations that spawn from me trying to be perfect in all aspects. I used to practice rhythmic gymnastics, which is an extremely hard sport. Time has made me realize that it is good to try to be the best you can be and give the very best you can, but failure is permitted. And it is failure that made me learn many times. I would also recommend everybody to enjoy every moment in life. We tend to look for happiness in our “ideal” world, leaving aside the moments that shape actual happiness. 

 

 

51467587_763674480684510_2588998885800148992_n

Q: What does feminism mean to you? 

A: For me, feminism is simply the equality of women and men. I think there has been a misconception by a small part of society, who thinks that feminism means hating men and defending women are superior to men. I think they are doing no favor to real feminism. It is much simpler than that: We are all human beings.

 

However, if we [women] are as intelligent, capable, and empowered as men, why can’t we qualify for the same work position in every part of the world? Why do we have to walk afraid when we go back home alone in the night? Education (not only at school, but at home) should have an essential role in achieving equality but unfortunately, we are far from that. I hope we see change in the near future.

 

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

 

 

 

 

Leire & My Lilianas would love to hear from you! Comment below! 

Follow us on Instagram.

Connect with us on Facebook.

Woman Wednesday: Jess

*Note: Woman Wednesday is a part of our blog. Each Woman Wednesday post will feature a woman who would like to share information in the hopes of inspiring and motivating other women. Comments are welcome below. 


 

Q and A with Jess, Howard County, Maryland 

“If you have a setback in the process of achieving your goals, and you feel as though you’ve failed, take a moment to reflect on why you weren’t successful and what you can do to ensure that you won’t make the same mistake(s) again. Then forgive yourself and get ready for another try. Self-improvement is not an endgame; it is a constant process.”

 

Q: What are you passionate about?

A: I’m passionate about self-improvement in all areas of my life. I am constantly reflecting on how I can become the best possible version of myself, the person that I visualize when I think “this is who I want to be.”

As a third-grade teacher, I am always looking for better ways to engage and instruct my students, whether it’s something small like using a magnifying glass to be “Story Problem Detectives,” or something big, like transforming my classroom into a tropical rainforest, complete with a humidifier and real plants. Every lesson that I teach, I ask myself, “What went well?” and “What could I do differently to make this lesson better?” The book that I’m reading now, “The Wild Card: 7 Steps to an Educator’s Creative Breakthrough,” is a great source of inspiration, and it also provides concrete steps to help me improve my teaching.

I strive for self-improvement in other areas of my life as well. I want to be physically stronger, I want to be more organized, I want to be more financially secure, and I want to be more fearless in pursuit of things that excite me. I’m always working on some part of myself.

It can be hard not to beat myself up when I make mistakes that put me further away from reaching my goals. But it’s something that I’ve been working on a lot lately.

 

image

Pictured: Jess in her classroom. She does whatever she can to make learning fun for her students. 

 

Q: What is something valuable you’ve learned that you’d like others to know?

A: Striving for perfection doesn’t work. It’s an absurd amount of pressure to place on yourself, and it’s setting yourself up for failure. You are a human being. You’re not perfect, and you never will be. Perfection is an unattainable goal, and it’s unreasonable to expect it of yourself.

You can, however, always strive for improvement. I personally have started changing my mindset to think “progress, not perfection,” and that has done wonders for my stress level.

I wrote a lot about this in a post about my New Year’s resolutions on my blog, which you can find here if you would like to read it: https://averageadventuress.blogspot.com/2019/01/new-year-new-words.html

 

image (2)3

Pictured: Jess rock climbing. 

 

Q: What were your younger years like?

A: One of the stories I’ve heard the most about my childhood is the one that my dad likes to tell: When I was about three years old, my family was getting ready to leave the house (we may have been going out to dinner or to the park, that’s the part that no one really remembers). I was sent upstairs to get my shoes. After several minutes, my dad hollered up the stairs that if I didn’t come back down with my shoes soon, I would be left behind. No response from three-year-old me. He came up the stairs to investigate, and there I was, on the floor of my room, silent tears streaming down my face as I fiercely struggled to tie my own shoelaces.

I like to say that this story sums up two of my three main personality traits: stubbornly independent (to the point of pigheadedness at times) and a perfectionist, holding myself to high standards (sometimes impossibly high). This simultaneously drives my desire for self-improvement and makes me very anxious.

 

 

image (1)2

Pictured: Jess at the Colosseum in Rome, Italy. 

 

My third main personality trait: I’ve always been an introvert. As a kid, I remember feeling tortured every time my parents made me order my own food at a restaurant or introduce myself to someone new. Speaking to strangers was the absolute bane of my childhood existence.

I started playing the violin in 3rd grade, but I was hands-down the quietest in the entire orchestra until high school when the director decided he was going to bring me out of my shell. Throughout my four years of high school, he pushed me to take on leadership roles within the orchestra, and he even tutored me during the summer (to the point that I became concertmaster of the orchestra and played a solo in the spring concert my senior year). This was something beyond unthinkable to my ninth-grade self.

That one teacher had such a profound impact on my life. The confidence I found in orchestra spilled over into other areas of my life. It also cemented my desire to become a teacher. I want to do for students what my high school orchestra director did for me.

I’m still an introvert. I’m still stubbornly independent. And I’m still a perfectionist. I think these things are the anchors of who I am. But I’ve found ways to make these traits work for me, rather than allowing them to be obstacles between me and my goals; I’m turning them into strengths.

 

image (3)4
Pictured: Jess playing kronum (a hybrid sport of soccer, handball, and basketball, played on a circular field with 4 goals). 

Q: What would you like others to learn from your story? 

A: To become the person who you want to be, you must make a plan; it’s not just going to happen on its own. I start with the big goals I want to achieve, and I look for small steps to get me closer to achieving that goal, one step at a time.

For example, reducing the amount of trash I send to the landfills is one of the big goals that I’m working on. Small steps toward this goal include using reusable grocery bags and produce bags, using reusable water bottles and coffee cups, and saying “no” to freebies that I don’t need. As I master each “baby step,” I move on to another small goal. Big changes don’t happen all at once; the small changes add up to big change.

If you have a setback in the process of achieving your goals, and you feel as though you’ve failed, take a moment to reflect on why you weren’t successful and what you can do to ensure that you won’t make the same mistake again. Then forgive yourself and get ready for another try. Self-improvement is not an endgame; it is a constant process.

 

image (5)

Pictured: Jess during her recent skydiving adventure. 

 

image (4)

Pictured: Jess surrounded by Legos in Copenhagen, Denmark.

 

 

 

Jess & My Lilianas would love to hear from you! Comment below! 

Follow us on Instagram.

Connect with us on Facebook.