My Journey to Self-Love and Gratitude – Who Am I?
- Feb 22, 2021
- 5 min read
Written by: Leslie Gaudet, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
I've asked myself that question many times over throughout my lifetime. I thought this would be a great place to start leaning into that by letting all of you in on who I am because I believe that when you know your author a little bit and where he or she comes from, we've met each other where we're at. We can then start having honest conversations and build a closer connection.
I believe now, more than ever, in this new world we call home, that we need connection, and a solid community can change the world.
So, who am I? Well, for starters, I'm a wife of 25 years and a fur-baby mom to my little boy Jackson (my 14-year-old Papillon).
I'm a friend, a daughter, and an Auntie to some of the most amazing young men and women that I get to call family.
I've been a Legal Assistant/Paralegal for almost 4 decades, and for the last 2 years, I've been a Life Coach for women, teaching them how little mindset shifts can empower us to lean into living our lives with more joy gratitude, and love.
But how did I get to be a Life Coach? Where/How/When? And most importantly, Why?
Let’s start with 'Why' because that is the most important piece to this puzzle called my life that I had to wrap my head around to be living my life on my terms and have the mindset that I do to show up and serve every day.
So, my 'Why' began 20 years ago in 2000. My husband and I were living in Florida at the time, and we were living a life disconnected from each other. He had his interests to keep him happy, and I filled in the dots to keep me from feeling my emotions. I didn’t want to feel because that would mean that I would have to face that I was truly and utterly miserable with the life I was leading.
My husband was an avid golfer, or shall I say he was addicted to the game of skins, which is a game within the game that you bet on each hole, and you either come out even, ahead or behind. He played every weekend and sometimes more, which left me on my own quite a lot, and I had to fill in my time with something, anything, that would distract me from my emotional pain of feeling abandoned.
I termed my existence as being a golf widow, and I laughed at it sometimes, but the truth was, it really hurt not to have that connection that I craved with my husband of 4 years at that time. I didn’t understand that for me, I had a love connection that wasn’t being fulfilled, and that connection was quality time. I felt like he was more interested in chasing golf balls than spending time with his wife. Bleak picture, I know.
Fast forward 5 years, and we were dealt a very harsh blow. My husband was in a horrible car accident and was off work for a few months and ended up losing almost all of his pool cleaning business as he was self-employed and he was the only employee. When he couldn’t show up for work, his clients found someone else and dropped him, which put him into a depression, and I was not far behind.
When 2008 rolled around, we were finally ready to make some changes, and that meant moving back up to Canada (where we both grew up), and still, we weren’t happy. It took another 10 years to finally start moving the needle to where we needed to get to, and that needle led us to Las Vegas. That’s where I started my coaching business, and that’s where my love for self began.
I learned so much about myself in the first 6 months of living a new and freer lifestyle in Las Vegas. I was working from home for a law firm in California, and I was finally able to breathe a little bit more and start figuring out what I really wanted to do with my life.
My story could go on for pages but let’s just say that that was the beginning of finding my voice and really living my life.
So, why do I tell you this about me? My Why. That’s my Why. I had to find a way to really live my life for me, and it began in Vegas and me going on a self-discovery journey to self-awareness and self-love, and along the way, I found my joy for coaching. I picked up some amazing tools that I have been able to share and use in my coaching practice that have really transformed lives, including my own.
And so, in essence, my Why is I want to be able to help the woman, who like me way back when, feels truly and utterly alone and miserable. I want that woman to know that she matters and that she can make a change, especially if she hates her current 9 to 5 situation because she’s dissatisfied, overworked, overwhelmed, and possibly underpaid. I want her to know that she has a voice and a right to speak up for herself and that her self-worth does not live in the land of what she can do for others because she is worthy of being loved, appreciated, and valued. In essence, teaching her that the best love she can give herself is loving herself wholly, without judgment or criticism, and being able to face the reflection staring back at her as being enough, worthy and deserving.
My journey to self-love and self-awareness was a long journey, and if I can shorten that journey for another woman who is feeling stuck in the muck and uncertain of how and where to start, that is truly priceless and that is my mission.
I want to leave you with a short meditation that I created to focus on gratitude. I believe that when you focus on all that you have and all that you are given, that you realize that you are truly blessed and that that can help you navigate those tough days.
Here’s the LINK.
I hope you enjoy it, and I am looking forward to serving you, my new community, and building a lasting relationship with you.
Sending you lots of love and gratitude.
xoxo
Leslie Gaudet
Leslie Gaudet, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Leslie Gaudet is a Mindset and Emotional Awareness Coach for women. She helps her clients achieve self-awareness around their emotional triggers through shifting their mindset so that they can make better decisions when they respond, which allows them to bring more balance, peace, and harmony into their life.
Almost 4 decades working as a Legal Assistant and Paralegal in the corporate world left her feeling emotionally and physically drained and that’s when she decided that in order for her to live a life she loves, she had to make some changes and those changes involved learning to love herself (without judgment or criticism), and that mindset is the key to everything because our mindset influences our thoughts and in turn our thoughts dictate our words and actions. Thru her journey to self-love and self-acceptance, Leslie went on to become certified as a Life Coach and attained further certifications in Group Coaching, and Emotional Intelligence.
She works closely with her clients starting with mindset because that is the foundational piece to self-love and self-acceptance. She teaches her clients about triggers and how they affect us emotionally by helping her clients tune into, spot and understand their own so that they can become more self-aware of their trigger moments and emotional responses.
With proven tools and techniques, and with her guidance, her clients tap into and discover their true potential to living their life and loving the life they are living.
Leslie believes that when you Change Your Brain (the way you think), You will Transform Your Life.
