Sarah Maxwell and Marie Andree Lessard: November 2012

November 2012

Hi WEBSITE

November has rolled in unannounced which means that Christmas is on the horizon. Since itʼs my favorite holiday, I canʼt say Iʼm not a teensy bit excited! Heading to New York City, Montreal, and then to my family in Nova Scotia fulfills my need for all things snow at this time of year so all my boxes are being ticked! Can we agree no newsletter in December so I can fully get my "jingle" on?

The blog I am sharing with you this month is a long one but very in-depth. It stems from a great honor I have of being the guest blogger for an active community of healthy people called "The Healthy Living Club".

These are a league of powerful women who have transformed their bodies through an eating protocol and hence have woken up to a desire for all things healthy, including their RELATIONSHIPS. So, I was asked whether I wanted to be the "Relationship Expert" for the month of November for these 3,000 women. I said YES straight away but when it came time to write the first of my eight blogs, I was stumped! What was going on? Was this the infamous writers block I was experiencing?

Lucky for me, I have a "book coach" who leads and organizes me as I write my first book (due out early 2013). After quizzing me a little, she got to the heart of the matter, I was hung up around being considered an "expert"!!! Who am I to be positioned as knowing everything in the realm of anything? It was very overwhelming for me until Jane unravelled it: "Itʼs about sharing your experience with others. Not more, not less. They see you as an expert because youʼve studied it, read about it continuously, lived it in your sporting career and walk the walk in your relationship. Itʼs not by being perfect.

and knowing everything that they want to hear from you, itʼs from a place of knowing about your experience." [Now, thatʼs why sheʼs a "book expert"!! Sheʼs written over 50 books with her husband and was a client of mine who has gone on to great things including helping people write the books they donʼt feel confident enough to complete. Itʼs so obvious to her, she never considered that she could be helpful to others. Another full-circle moment!!!

Relief befell me as the penny dropped and Jane gave me the permission I was blocking myself from experiencing in connecting and engage with this community of women. After our call, that first blog just wrote itself as I opened up and "connected" with them in the only way I know how...by telling the truth!

This community and I have since been going gangbusters with daily back-and-forth, real live scenarios and questions that I get the privilege of taking a crack at. Step aside "Dear Abby" (you North Americans will get that joke!)! Itʼs been one of the most enriching experiences Iʼve had. Itʼs like Facebook on a topic that I love with people who want to share "real" things. I couldnʼt ask for a more ideal scenario. Thank you Changing Habits for opening up this opportunity to me. Though itʼs an online community that you must pay to join, check out the great work that Changing Habits is doing to Change Lives!