Welcome to the first piece in our Strong and Worthy Women of Inspiration Series!
As you may know, we’ve been asking our readers to send in their inspiring entrepreneurial stories lately, and we are thrilled to say the posts are rolling in! We hope you enjoy reading about each woman’s journey on her path to success, and feel motivated to share yours as well.
We, as women, tend to downplay our accomplishments or disregard the importance of sharing our stories with others, but that is precisely why sharing is so valuable. It encourages others to do the same. It empowers people who may be where you once were, feeling like they’re the only one. It inspires and truly humanizes the sometimes wild ride we’re all on as we work our way upward.
If you are interested in telling our readers about your Inspiring story, you can read more about how to get started here.
We would like to thank the lovely Sheila Hill for being the first woman in our series! Read on for her inspiring story!
Sheila’s Story
After a very tumultuous childhood, I bring you into my story in the spring of 2010.
My family moved from my home town to Oakville, Ontario. It was a move to our dream/forever home and we were thrilled. Little did I realize at the time, much of my anxiety issues were being managed by familiarity, and now that I was in a new town, nothing was familiar. I was already medicated for depression and now needed anti-anxiety medications as well.
On my worst day, I was paralyzed with anxiety in the Walmart parking lot . I couldn’t go in … and I couldn’t go home. By the fall, I was at the highest weight I had ever been and was really struggling to make everything LOOK right: I made home cooked meals, kept my house clean, was president of the PTA at my kids’ school… but I was struggling to convince myself that this was ‘it’. My plot in life.
Then I decided that I needed to really dig deep and ‘work’ on myself… and I started where everyone usually does: on the outside.
With the help of a chiropractor, I got off all of my medications. I couldn’t afford a personal trainer but one told me once that lifting weights was the only way to transform my body. So, I watched and read and learned. I was starting to ‘look good’ (whatever that means) when my friends started saying “Wow, you look great… you must be so happy!”. That phrase would hit me like a football to the gut every time, because I knew I wasn’t.
Only the packaging had changed.
By coincidence or kismet, I met a life coach at a social event and that was the beginning of the work that REALLY needed doing… the inside stuff. We explored, discussed and evaluated every aspect of my life. From childhood to adulthood; what values were mine and what were other people’s. How I valued myself, what I thought my worth was in the world and what I believed I was capable of being; we discussed it all. Some days it was gut-wrenchingly vulnerable work, but I can say today that the reward was so worth it!
In 2011 my mother passed away unexpectedly. I was officially an ‘orphan’. Left to grieve the loss of my best friend and to settle her estate, the next year or so was a fog. And then, in 2013 my husband of 22 years left me.
I hesitate to think where I would be today if I hadn’t started my healing journey before these two life changing events happened.
From the bottom (or at least, that’s how it felt) I slowly started creating a life for myself and my kids on MY OWN terms. For the first time in my life… it was scary and exhilarating all at the same time.
I went back to work after nearly 11 years as a financial planner. I hold a CFP designation and I thought it was my only ticket back into the work force.
I entered and won a modeling contest – yes, the furthest thing the ‘old’ me would have ever dreamed for herself!
I made decisions on my own, big and small, and continue to this day to ‘work’ on me. I read, I meditate and most of all I practice patience and self love.
Slowly my confidence grew and with it came clarity and a burning passion to make a difference in the world. I decided that financial planning wasn’t for the ‘new’ me. I wasn’t going to spend one more day of my life subscribing to my old ‘norm’, playing ‘safe’. I had a fire in me that needed expressing and with that … the Navigator was born.
I trained, marketed and branded myself as the Navigator: “Guiding Women on a Journey of Self Discovery”.
My driving force comes from the places I have been; it is to never have any women go through any transformation in her life by choice or otherwise…alone.
My clients are making big shifts in their lives; getting out of their own way, showing up more and more often as the best version of themselves in their lives and being creative about their future. It is so incredibly rewarding to be a part of the process.
On a personal level, I show up authentically as me every single day, and boy, is it freeing! I am a single mom doing her best to raise two teenagers. I have wonderful friends, I exercise and enjoy a glass of wine. Life isn’t perfect but ‘perfect’ is subjective. I am happy, healthy, fulfilled and genuinely excited about my future!
I am grateful for everything that has happened in my life. Even the events that have scarred me deeply… because each and every one of them has taught me one very valuable lesson. I AM STRONG AND WORTHY!
About Sheila Hill:
My name is Sheila Hill and I am a Navigator, “Guiding Women on a Journey of Self Discovery”.
As a Coach, Intuitive and Certified Hypnotherapist I help women get back in touch with their passion for life. Helping them navigate the journey from their head; where all the ‘shoulds’, ‘have to’s’ and self limiting beliefs live – back to their heart, where they can reconnect with their passion. Creating the life they want to live, from a place of worthiness, self confidence and purpose.
Please visit my website to learn more about the programs I offer (www.sheilahill.ca) and/or follow me on facebook (www.facebook.com/sheilahillcoaching) . Then book a discovery call so we can discuss your next big move.
Interested in sharing YOUR inspiring story on Strong and Worthy? Go here for more info and then contact us here to get started!
