So, I have a confession to make.

​​This will come as a shock to many people, ​but I think I just need to get it out.

​​I’m not perfect.  (I jest, I jest 😅)

But it’s so funny that we think our imperfection is something to be ashamed of or try to hide from the world. I don’t think social media, filters and Photoshop have helped us with our insecurities.

E.g. I think my camera automatically smoothes out my eye wrinkles … In real life, they’re quite visible … Apparently smiling a lot gives you eye wrinkles 🤷‍♂️

I would hate for one of my clients to meet me in real life and think “Oh … This is awkward … I thought you were …”

I’ve grown to love my imperfections and struggles, but let me reassure you, this wasn’t always the case.

For most of my life, I felt awkward, shy and insecure. I used to get so angry at myself for every little mistake that I made.

Long story short, beating myself up about my failures, mistakes and insecurities never actually helped me move forward and overcome them.

Underneath those actions, was a belief that I could never be good enough, and that I couldn’t grow and improve.

So, fast forward to today, how is it possible that I could love and even embrace my imperfections?

Well, it wasn’t an overnight shift. There’s a lot of meaningful conversations between my mentors and coaches over the years that have played a significant role.

I say this because, when I tell you that I now see my mistakes, struggles and imperfections as opportunities, I’d expect that most people’s first thought would be “Yeah, that’s a load of BS”

But, if I was actually perfect, I’d be so bored I’d actually start creating problems to solve.

So, I love seeing struggles and mistakes as little mini goldmines of opportunity to learn and grow. But, you have to go through a lot of dirt to find the gold.

My clients have occasionally pondered if I’m clairvoyant, but in fact, I’ve just lived a lot of the struggles they’re facing, and so I understand at a deeper level what’s going on, and what that looks like as “surface” behavior.

If getting healthy and losing weight was easy for me, I wouldn’t be a fraction of the coach I am today.

And, my clients sometimes wonder why, on coaching calls, while they’re telling me about their failures and sometimes really big mistakes they’ve made, I’m sitting there grinning like a kid in a candy store (hah, nice analogy), but I’m excited because it means we get to learn and grow and become a better version of ourselves.

It is a fundamental part of the human experience to screw up, sometimes royally. But when we’re open to learning lessons from those, and show ourselves compassion for being human, some pretty special things can happen.

I like to think of myself as a bit of an alchemist, turning crap into gold.

This isn’t to say that screwing up is like riding a unicorn across a rainbow … Mistakes are painful. But, we can use that pain to turtle in a corner and cry, or we can use it to power a major transformation.

To all you beautifully imperfect humans out there, struggling along, I tip my hat to you. This stuff isn’t easy. Life never will be.

But, when we embrace it, and courageously move forward, life becomes a lot more meaningful, purposeful and beautiful.

So, if you’re feeling stuck, frustrated, broken, or whatever, reach out.

I mean it, I’m not just saying it to be polite. You’d be surprised at how a single conversation can change your life in ways you never expected ❤️