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.
The Journey to self-love begins when You make the decision that you are important. When you decide that you are important, that is when you will choose yourself. When you accept your true reflection, understanding that real beauty comes from within and that you are enough as you are now, you will have learned to embrace all and everything about yourself. You will know that you are loved by you.
All great words to live by, but how does one get there when they don’t even like themselves, let alone love themselves? I told you a little bit about my story when I first started writing for this publication back in February 2021, and for the sake of the reader, that being you, I couldn’t tell you everything because it truly is a very long story. But I wanted to come full circle because so much has changed in my life, and it has truly been for the better. When I first told you my story, I talked about being miserable in my relationship with my husband because I was lonely and feeling abandoned, and for a very long time, I blamed him because I believed the saying “happy wife, happy life.” I also believed that my life revolved around my job, and that left little to no time for me to truly live the life I loved living. I believed that my happiness was based on external influences and that if only I could work less or if only my husband and I could connect more, then I would be happy. As I’ve been writing over the past year and 6 months, I’ve realized that my happiness was a choice that I got to make for myself, which is a relief, really. Because when you leave the choice up to someone else, then that gives them all the power to decide for you; giving them the power to decide whether today is the day you get to be happy or not. And if you leave your happiness up to your circumstances and that you will only be happy when you achieve something, when you have something, when you are something, then that puts so much pressure on the chase of finding the perfect something to make you happy. I even thought that I wasn’t worthy or deserving of love unless the scales were tipped in the other person’s favor; somehow believing that that was how it was supposed to be and
I guess if I really thought about it, it is something that I was exposed to during my upbringing. But my mom’s story is not mine to tell, although it has influenced me at times throughout my life. I came to realize one thing. If you believe that the only way you are worthy and deserving of love is by how much you do for someone else just to win their love, then you may never truly feel like you are good enough because you’ll continue giving away more and more of yourself, maybe losing yourself completely and morphing into something or someone you are not until you no longer recognize the woman staring back at you. That was me in the beginning, and as I have said, over this past year and a half, so much has changed. I’ve learned to truly lean into owning who I am. I’ve found my mission for my life story, which is simply this. Empowering women all over the world to fully love themselves so that they create deeper bonds with those they love. It’s taken a lot of grit, grace, perseverance, stamina, mindset work, inner reflection, and inner work, and learning to listen more than I speak so that I can understand before I respond. It’s been me creating deeper bonds with my inner circle of amazing friends(my tribe) and embracing and learning to love the woman that I have become today. It’s been me learning to listen to my husband, the man I have shared 27 years with, so that I understand him in a way that allows me to respond without letting my emotions get the best of me because I no longer approach our conversations as my wounded self. All of this has strengthened me so that I feel confident about how I show up every day. My mission, which I just shared with you, is what helps guide me in the things I say and the things I do. Every thought I think, every decision I make, and every action I take all comes from my burning desire to help women fully love who they are without judgment or criticism. It’s my desire that families create and experience more loving bonds so that they create lasting memories that they can pass down to the next generations to come. I feel this to my core, and it has really supported My Why for living. I have learned through my experiences two things:
Inspiration leads to motivation leads to action.
And action leads to building leads to results, leads to living your life on purpose.
These two truths for me have given me unstoppable faith to keep on keeping on.
They have strengthened my belief that we are all born to add value to this world, and mine has been revealed to me by God, and He is leading the way.
I have learned to trust Him so that I show up as that confident woman who leads other women through their self-love journeys.
It’s why my clients are experiencing deeper bonds with their significant other and their children and having deeper level conversations, and building a healthier family dynamic.
I’m excited about what’s to come. I don’t know the road ahead, but I am certain of one thing.
God has revealed my mission and I am ready and willing to let Him lead me as I take the next steps into making my mission become a reality for the women that I am blessed to be working with and the ones who come.
It’s why I created my 30-Day Self-Love Program – Love the Skin You’re In 2.0, which will lead women through 30 days of learning to love themselves from the inside out all while leaning on each other as we are better together when we support each other, and I’m excited to announce that we start this journey on September 1st, 2022 and it will be the first of many.
I would love to tell you all about it! So, if you want more details, please feel free to connect with me on Facebook.
For now, I will leave you with this.
Self-Love is a journey that starts from within because it’s the inner work that reveals the best parts of us that support us enough so that we can release what doesn’t work.
I hope that your journey through life is filled with many joyous moments. And remember…
You Are Worthy and Deserving! Never forget that.
Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Leslie!
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 by shifting their mindset to make better decisions when they respond, allowing them to bring more balance, peace, and harmony into their lives.
Almost 4 decades working as a Legal Assistant and Paralegal in the corporate world left her feeling emotionally and physically drained. That’s when she decided that she had to make some changes for her to live the life she loves. Those changes involved learning to love herself (without judgment or criticism). 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 became 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 you will transform your life when you Change Your Brain (the way you think).
