From my personal journey over the past few weeks, I discovered a common thread: I need the courage to stop feeling intimidated by others.  I must develop the courage to speak my truth to everyone – no holds barred. With most people I can freely communicate what’s on my heart; but with a select few, I lack the courage to express how I feel.  

With these people, I keep my thoughts and frustrations locked inside. I get worried that if I share how I feel or think, they will not like what I have to say. Sometimes I have been excluded for my views, even though I spoke politely.  I have also had others get upset, or change the topic when I speak. Most often, I would respond by keeping quiet, playing down my views, or agreeing with them. Whichever way you look at it, I lacked courage to stand up for what I believed with these people. I have come to realize that I ‘gave up’ on my views because I like to make others happy – more so than myself. I guess I’m a ‘people pleaser.’

Is there a common theme to the life lessons you are learning lately? I find that when I’m being taught something important, the message is usually repeated in different situations throughout my life. That way, I’ll pay attention – even if I don’t want to!

This happened recently at a personal development seminar where I was a participant.  We were asked to list personal obstacles in our life journeys. Like a reflex, I wrote down ‘COURAGE’ and circled it. Though I didn’t understand why this word mattered to me, I was soon to get inklings.

Participants were asked to discuss the meaning behind what they had written down with others close by.  We helped one another; I was shown that my ‘courage’ meant developing the strength to speak my story on a general level.

As you know, I love sharing stories of people who have impacted my journey.  I was saddened to find out that a beautiful soul, Zach Sobiech, lost his battle to cancer yesterday.  Zach was only 18 years old when he died but in his short time he embraced life to the fullest.  His passion for life, love of others, and contagious joy touched my heart as well as those of many others. His legacy will live on.  As Zach said in his documentary, "It's really simple, actually, just try to make people happy."

I'm so excited to share with you a new web show that Jacqueline Boone (from 6 Months to Live) and I are starting. I met Jacqueline through WordPress and an awesome friendship was born. We did our first episode yesterday of our new monthly web show called:

Aloha! I’m back. Hope you all had a great couple of weeks. I had a refreshing vacation in Maui.

If you want to get inspired, you should visit the Hawaiian Islands. They have changed my life; they may change yours. We all have places that empower us. The Hawaiian Islands do this for me.  Maui has a special place in my heart; it is where I originally came up with the idea for my blog. So, I thought I should use my holiday as a chance to reflect on my blog, past and present.

I’m so excited that today a role model of mine and fellow Canadian blogger, Elan Morgan (aka Schmutzie), is sharing her thoughts on perseverance with us.  As I have said before in a previous post, "tome, my role models are individuals who have the courage to be real, to be vulnerable, to be themselves, and to share their journeys." Elan does this through speaking from her heart.  I was first introduced to Elan electronically when I was a juror for the Canadian Weblog Awards.  After hearing her Ted Talk, I had to ask her to be part of the "Profiles of Perseverance" series as Elan encouraged me to be more open and to dig deep by sharing my personal narrative online.  I'm so thankful for Elan's advice; she truly inspires me. Thanks, Elan, for your presence on my blogging journey!

During a routine run around my local lake this past weekend, instead of bringing my headphones like I usually do, I decided to be silent in nature and reflect on my journey. On the west coast, we are lucky to have some of the biggest trees in the world. Trees teach me a lot and being in their presence reminds me to think outside myself. The trees around here have been growing for hundreds of years and keep reaching higher, despite obstacles.  They are a force to be reckoned with – I haven’t even touched on how deep their roots must be.  Check out this beautiful video I found called "Growing is Forever" that I thought would visually encapsulate what I feel when I am surrounded by these tall trees.

Scott Vannatter is 54 years-old and has had several careers throughout his life.  He has been a programmer, worked in computers in several capacities, and was a teacher of special needs middle-schoolers.  On May 7, 2010, Scott suffered a severe hemorrhagic stroke, which forced him to stop working in February of 2012.  At this point in his life, Scott maintains daily blogging on his website  and has, finally, earned one of his dreams:  that of being a published author.  He is published online at www.atomicavarice.com  (“The Way It Is”) and in print with his story “Sirens of the Undead” contained in the anthology “The Dead Sea” on sale at Amazon in print and on Kindle: Scott’s Story.  Scott lives in Middletown, Indiana, with his cat, Tamika.

When you travel, the focus is on the destination. Travel guides draw you in with the sites you will see and what you will experience when you are visiting the new places. But for me, the highlights of any adventure I have ever been on, are the beautiful heart-felt connections you will develop with the people on your journey.  

The people you meet along the way make the experience. I thought I needed to go to all these amazing places throughout the world to see the sites. What my soul craves, though, is to go meet new people and to build connections with them. Those are my most precious moments and souvenirs from travelling. The memories/lessons learned from these connections are what I cherish most.

Jac McNeil is a certified professional coach and a self-leadership expert for women solopreneurs. She completed her training and earned her credentials through The Coaches Training Institute (CTI) and International Coach Federation (PCC). Her work helps women unearth their own powerful business truths so they can do more of the work they love and feel called to do. Through the lens of self-leadership, she helps women bring their unique strengths, gifts and powerful potential more fully to their work and create thriving, integrity-based businesses. She created the transformational business-building program In Your Element and the digital program Your Personal Business Retreat Kit (to be released in April 2013). She lives in Fall River, Nova Scotia, with her husband Matt, little girls Sophie and Emilie, and their Bernese Mountain Dog Guinness. 

When you think you don’t have anything super exciting to announce or to say, do you stop talking or hide your thoughts?

A friend asked me recently why I wasn’t posting more regularly.  While I had been posting, I think what she really meant to ask was: why wasn’t I sharing more of my journey on the blog?

After she brought this up, I found a chance to head to the water and reflect. As you may know, water is my source of inspiration. When I’m looking for guidance, I seek it out.

Over a year ago, I had the privilege of profiling Jacqueline Boone. She writes an amazing blog called 6 Months to Live, which is all about living a life you love and embracing life as fully as you can. She has encouraged me to persevere in this journey, and I want to support her in achieving her BIGGEST DREAM yet!

Her deepest passion is to travel and to connect with people on a global scale, and she has an opportunity to travel the world for the next 6 months and to have enough money at the end of the trip to create her start-up, which will transform the way people connect and achieve their dreams!