Integrative Life & Leadership Coach
Consultant | Facilitator | Process Artist | Author | Speaker

Hello Friends!

Hope my words find you well today. In advance... take what's useful. I'm here to share tips to navigate change and create through uncertainty.

Sometimes, I poke the bear. Apologies in advance, if I do. Stick with me for a moment, as I meander via metaphor. Here's how I see the world.

Jan 1st on a New Year's Day hike, I took a tumble over gnarly roots that's kept me immobile for nearly 3 weeks. Ankle sprain sounds like a light injury but it's pretty debilitating. Blessings have included my husband's incredible care and visits from friends, family and shared food. For this we are very grateful indeed! Thank you.

...Why must it take an injury or illness to stop, sit and visit? Must lives stay SO busy? Life is short, beloveds. Sit with those you love. They won't be here forever.

For me, unfortunately, it's the tenth sprain on this ankle. This injury takes time to heal and can become repetitive as the stretched out tendons don't regain their tenacity, ever.

This brings me to today's lesson... TENACITY.

Tenacity is about bounce back and returning to an original strength, if not even stronger as a result of injury or challenge. Tenacity is about strength, impenetrability.

Cambridge Dictionary defines tenacity as: (noun) the ability to keep doing something difficult. It's also defined it as the quality or fact of being able to grip something firmly, holding fast, persistence.

As a former hairdresser, I know the word tenacity as it relates to the lack of permeability of a hair shaft. If the hair is tenacious, it is difficult to color. Color wouldn't stick, it would slide off.

A little damage to a hair shaft makes it more receptacle to absorbing color. If you want your hair to be colored, in this case-- damage is an asset. Tenacious hair is difficult to color, difficult to influence.

I think about this today... about our tenacity. I think about how resistant a society can be in receiving new ideas, adapting to damage and repairing itself. In this case, there's not a rebound back to before but an evolution. We must all be tenacious to face difficult times and in some areas be resistant and open to change in other areas.

My ankle will never be as strong as it was in 10th grade when I sprained it the first time. It won't "bounce back" or rebound to its original strength. This latest sprain reminds me of my vulnerability, and one I have accepted I need to live with, and adapt accordingly.

Thus, I live protecting myself because of historic damage which weakens with each injury. I live as cautiously and mindfully as I can. I am tenacious, even though physically my ankle is not. Capish?

Although my metaphors today might land disjointed or wildly different in comparison, they both point to tenacity. Focus and discipline are keys for self-preservation, and the care for those you care for and lead. Consider these prompts.

• How much can you take on, take in?
• What skills do you already have to cope and create through change, what skills need revisiting?
• How much are you willing to do differently to protect your mental and emotional wellbeing?
• What resources does your family need or your team need to succeed and communicate well in fractured times? What actions must follow?

As I sit here, week after week. I'm healing, slowly, slowly. Deterioration can happen the same way. It's called entropy... another word to research, which I share in my book. Here's a free chapter, if you're curious.

My gift to you is to be patient, be kind, be vigilant. Don't emu, head in sand... and don't be what you don't want more of, if you can help it. Do and be what you do want, where you can, when you can as often as you can. Peace is peace.

Take what's useful, dear ones. Thank you for your reading and your listening.

Many blessings, love and light, Annelies ✨

This week I facilitated a class featuring resiliency via arts integration. It was a specific workshop with and for veterans. A community you might agree benefits from extra support for mental health, reintegration into society and skills to navigate personal and professional change.

Art is investment

easy mental health

guides us to process

Kudos to The Joel Fund for their continued effort in serving veterans through arts integration. They invited me to facilitate a new concept I created called LightBox Poetry. It's an arts experience integrating watercolor, haiku and sculpture for wellbeing. They loved it!

Lightbox Poetry is about holding the light of your life in your hands captured in a colorful 3-D poem based on your past, present and future.

It was wonderful to see my LightBox Poetry concept come to life! First time offering this specific class, as I only invented my first LightBox in August. I look forward to leading another in March, again for veterans.

What felt beautiful about this arts experience was the easy access to hope! I witnessed each student access hope even though they had little to NO prior arts or poetry experience. They could drop into creative flow quickly and access wellbeing with peace and ease.

Reality is... for all of us, it's normal to waiver on strength to get through uncertainty. Change can be difficult. What's important to remember is when tenacity is down, hope can carry us through.

For some, hope is faith-based. For others, hope is nature-based. For others, hope is familial or rooted in what they might have faced before or what they need hope for as in supporting others or future generations.

For me, it's all of these including art and the creative process.

Whichever is best for you, consider hope as a mindset that's accessible even in the brightest or darkest of days. Hope doesn't need proof or evidence, even when there's no guarantee. It helps to be present and curious.

Hope is simply a mindset to believe in better, even if we don't know how, when or why. What do you need hope in today?

Try arts expression to process your ideas and stuff heavy in your heart. Movement, writing, painting, play. Write that book. Explore. Need/want a creative co-pilot? Let's talk.

Conduit for Change, LLC provides creative strategies to navigate change life and leadership. Think like an artist! Interested in me bringing LightBox Poetry, coaching or other integrative processes to your work retreat or networking community or conference? Let's talk! SCHEDULE A CALL

PS: Whether you are my existing client or a new client--- Save 30% on 3 sessions! Get 3 coaching sessions for $498! This includes a signature assessment plus extra support in-between sessions.

Coaching is a powerful thoughtful conversation to explore your present and future. Coaching is life-changing! Recently a client said, "You’ve changed my life in remarkable ways I didn't realize I needed.”

I told her... I didn't change your life, you did. I'm simply a conduit, a mirror to help you see what you can't see, say what couldn't say, and do what you needed to do. That's the power of coaching! Beautiful, transformative, supportive and life-affirming.

Whether you are navigating personal or professional transitions, from mid-life to end-of-life... I'll help you through various shapes of change from beginnings to endings and all in between. We'll address stress, overwhelm, and grief associated with change and spark ideation to breath life back into life again.

I help you slow the busy down, so you can focus, and accept where you are, so you can think clearly to take next steps forward.

Leaders, budding leaders, reluctant leaders, soloprenuers and people "on their way to something else" -- love coaching with me to embrace change, and lead with courage, creativity, wellbeing and grace.

Yes- your HSA and FSA can cover coaching with me.

Yes- most HR has funding for professional development. Just ask.

Yes- I offer a sliding scale for those in a compromised financial situation.

No, it's not expensive. The value of your personal freedom, sanity and wellbeing is worth it! Here's a special to get you started!

Explore with a guide you trust. Will you join me?

From Chaos to Calm :: Leading Change From the Inside Out is a quiet call to wake up to our individual and collective role and responsibility in solving our most pressing 21st century problems by cultivating resiliency at the personal level first. This "blueprint for resilience" is part personal story, part philosophy and part guidebook, you'll learn useful nuggets for life, leadership and well-being. To regain a sense of peace with what is, even in chaotic times, we need to begin within.

Email: annelies@conduitforchange.com
Website: www.conduitforchange.com
Phone: 919-345-8396