Create Yourself - A Life You Love
By Kay Holdsworth
My name is Kay Holdsworth and I will encourage, motivate and inspire you to follow your dreams and live a life that is true to who you are.
You can expect creative journaling activities, coaching exercises and guided visualisations that will help you unlock your potential, get unstuck and start you taking action.
www.kayholdsworth.com/
Create Yourself is for you if you want to live a life you love and make your dreams real.
Create Yourself - A Life You LoveApr 09, 2021
It’s okay not to feel great 😌
A Simple Exercise To Find Out What You Truly Want
2nd Part - Your Best Year Yet Exercise
How to Make 2024 the Best Year Yet - Part One
Becs Crosby - A Woman on a Mission to Create Kind Workplaces
I'm so excited about this podcast.
Today I have the pleasure of having Becs Crosby join me. She is a real inspiration, having left her corporate job and city life to follow her dreams.
Like many of us she had the idea of setting up her own business for over a decade but had pushed it aside… that was until December 2019 when her world fell apart.
Three months before the pandemic sent us all into lockdown Becs sadly lost her younger sister to cancer aged just 39.
With her sister’s advice of ‘don’t sweat the small stuff’ ringing in her ears, Becs dared to follow her heart and make her dream a reality.
She is a woman on a mission to spread kindness and create inclusive workplaces, where leaders are trusted and employees feel motivated to be productive and make their voices heard.
She runs team workshops and offers 1:1 coaching and consultancy for people managers and senior leaders who want to overcome their imposter syndrome to achieve results while gaining the respect and trust of their team.
She talks about the many benefits of practicing kindness, at home and at work where acting kindly has been shown to be associated with increased effort, productivity and persistence, higher engagement, reduced burnout, and higher levels of initiative taking, creativity, and helping behaviours.
Join Becs' mailing list: subscribepage.io/y7Hx0A
Follow Becs on socials:
Linked In @RebeccaCrosby11
Twitter / X @ShofficeComms
Facebook @ShofficeComms
Instagram @ShofficeComms
⚡️3 Simple Ways to Find Your ⚡️
Get Out Of Your Comfort Zone
Get Clear On What You Want
Is My Dream Worth My While? 5 questions you need to ask yourself
I share 5 key questions you need to ask yourself, to check that your dream is worth your time & energy. These are taken from Mary Morrissey who runs a program called Dream Builder. Instead we often ask, am I worthy of the dream. This is the wrong question! If you have a dream then I believe you are capable of making it happen but will it fully selling with what’s important & matters to you? Will it excite & light you up? These are important questions we need to give some thought. www.kayholdsworth.com
I'm Kay Holdsworth and I help women to find their purpose , dream big and create a life they love.
Every month I run My Future Self Workshop which is free. It's an opportunity to gain some clarity and get clear about what you want for your future. Unlock the power of your imagination and the wisdom of your future self to make your dreams come true.
Website Home | Kay Holdsworth Create Yourself
Facebook Create Yourself (1) Facebook
Instagram Kay Holdsworth (@kay.holdsworth) • Instagram photos and videos
Email - createyourselfwithkay@gmail.com
Sign up to my weekly newsletter Blog | Kay Holdsworth Create Yourself
🌈 Create a Vision for Your Life🌈
Give yourself permission to imagine a life you love. ❤️ Dare to dream big without the limits we do often place on ourselves. ⭐️ This is a simple activity that you can do in under 10 minutes. All you need is paper & pen (or you could even do it on your phone!). However, you do need an open mind & a willingness to dare to dream.
I'm Kay Holdsworth and I help women to find their purpose , dream big and create a life they love.
Every month I run My Future Self Workshop which is free. It's an opportunity to gain some clarity and get clear about what you want for your future. Unlock the power of your imagination and the wisdom of your future self to make your dreams come true.
Website Home | Kay Holdsworth Create Yourself
Facebook Create Yourself (1) Facebook
Instagram Kay Holdsworth (@kay.holdsworth) • Instagram photos and videos
Email - createyourselfwithkay@gmail.com
Sign up to my weekly newsletter Blog | Kay Holdsworth Create Yourself
Self-discovery Activity ⭐️Past, Present & Future Self ⭐️
⭐️A simple self-discovery exercise. Create, draw, doodle, journal on your past, present & future self. I like to set a timer & spend 2 minutes for each one. 💥 See how far you have come & all the progress you’ve made. Gain clarity for what you want for your future self. 🦋
I'm Kay Holdsworth and I help women to find their purpose , dream big and create a life they love.
Every month I run My Future Self Workshop which is free. It's an opportunity to gain some clarity and get clear about what you want for your future. Unlock the power of your imagination and the wisdom of your future self to make your dreams come true.
Website Home | Kay Holdsworth Create Yourself
Facebook Create Yourself (1) Facebook
Instagram Kay Holdsworth (@kay.holdsworth) • Instagram photos and videos
Email - createyourselfwithkay@gmail.com
Sign up to my weekly newsletter Blog | Kay Holdsworth Create Yourself
Your Dreams Matter 🦋⭐️🦋
I believe our dreams are important because they are an expression of who we are & who we have the potential to become. They are our soul calling. Our dreams are meant to be big, hairy & scary, otherwise they wouldn’t be dreamed! A dream should make us have to stretch & grow. They should equally scare & excite us. In this episode I share some powerful journal prompts & questions to help you to create a clear vision of what you want.
I'm Kay Holdsworth and I help women to find their purpose , dream big and create a life they love.
Every month I run My Future Self Workshop which is free. It's an opportunity to gain some clarity and get clear about what you want for your future. Unlock the power of your imagination and the wisdom of your future self to make your dreams come true.
Website Home | Kay Holdsworth Create Yourself
Facebook Create Yourself (1) Facebook
Instagram Kay Holdsworth (@kay.holdsworth) • Instagram photos and videos
Email - createyourselfwithkay@gmail.com
Sign up to my weekly newsletter Blog | Kay Holdsworth Create Yourself
Resilience Road Map - Riding the waves 🌊 of Tough Times 😕 The 6 R’s
Life throws us various curve balls. We all experience tough times, whether that be loss, change, failures, rejection, relationship issues…Life can be hard. Learning to be more resilient can help us ride the waves of life & help us cope better when difficult times hit. I talk through a Resilience Road Map which includes Reflection, Re-frame, Re-focus, Reach out, Remind yourself & Reassure Yourself. I include some helpful questions you can ask yourself if you are struggling. If you enjoyed this episode then visit my website KayHoldsworth.com
I'm Kay Holdsworth and I help women to find their purpose , dream big and create a life they love.
Every month I run My Future Self Workshop which is free. It's an opportunity to gain some clarity and get clear about what you want for your future. Unlock the power of your imagination and the wisdom of your future self to make your dreams come true.
Website Home | Kay Holdsworth Create Yourself
Facebook Create Yourself (1) Facebook
Instagram Kay Holdsworth (@kay.holdsworth) • Instagram photos and videos
Email - createyourselfwithkay@gmail.com
Sign up to my weekly newsletter Blog | Kay Holdsworth Create Yourself
Writing For Self-Discovery - Who Am I Exercise
It’s amazing that this episode even went out today, on Friday as promised. In this episode I talk about last nights Writing for Self-discovery workshop I hosted over on Meet-up/Create Yourself. We started the session with a simple word association exercise which is a great way to generate lots of thoughts & ideas. I then talked about ways you could use some of those words as a jump-start for more free-flow writing. I then asked the participants to go running around their house & choose three random items that represented some aspect of who they are. If you would like to find out more about my workshops head over to Kay holdsworth.com or join my meet up page which Create Yourself. If you enjoyed the episode then do rate & review it. 🦋💗
I'm Kay Holdsworth and I help women to find their purpose , dream big and create a life they love.
Every month I run My Future Self Workshop which is free. It's an opportunity to gain some clarity and get clear about what you want for your future. Unlock the power of your imagination and the wisdom of your future self to make your dreams come true.
Website Home | Kay Holdsworth Create Yourself
Facebook Create Yourself (1) Facebook
Instagram Kay Holdsworth (@kay.holdsworth) • Instagram photos and videos
Email - createyourselfwithkay@gmail.com
Sign up to my weekly newsletter Blog | Kay Holdsworth Create Yourself
Creative Activity - A Letter From My Future Self
A brilliant intuitive exercise to do if you are feeling stuck, uncertain or just seek some reassurance. Tapping into your wiser, older self is a great way to connect with your own knowing & wisdom. Your future self understands you inside out. They know your natural strengths & limitations. Who better to offer you advice, encouragement & guidance? Basically they are you without the fear, limiting beliefs & self-doubt. Check out my website kayholdsworth.com or take part in my Free Writing For Self-discovery Workshop held on Meet up/Create Yourself last Thursday of the month.
I'm Kay Holdsworth and I help women to find their purpose , dream big and create a life they love.
Every month I run My Future Self Workshop which is free. It's an opportunity to gain some clarity and get clear about what you want for your future. Unlock the power of your imagination and the wisdom of your future self to make your dreams come true.
Website Home | Kay Holdsworth Create Yourself
Facebook Create Yourself (1) Facebook
Instagram Kay Holdsworth (@kay.holdsworth) • Instagram photos and videos
Email - createyourselfwithkay@gmail.com
Sign up to my weekly newsletter Blog | Kay Holdsworth Create Yourself
Find Clarity - Dialogue with my Future Self Exercise
Feeling stuck or lost? Not sure what to do next? Desperate for some clarity & insight? Why not try this creative journaling activity where we get in touch with our wiser, older self. All you need is a pen, paper & a willingness to get in touch with your intuition. Let your future self be your own personal guide. It’s certainly cheaper than therapy! What have you got to lose?
I'm Kay Holdsworth and I help women to find their purpose , dream big and create a life they love.
Every month I run My Future Self Workshop which is free. It's an opportunity to gain some clarity and get clear about what you want for your future. Unlock the power of your imagination and the wisdom of your future self to make your dreams come true.
Website Home | Kay Holdsworth Create Yourself
Facebook Create Yourself (1) Facebook
Instagram Kay Holdsworth (@kay.holdsworth) • Instagram photos and videos
Email - createyourselfwithkay@gmail.com
Sign up to my weekly newsletter Blog | Kay Holdsworth Create Yourself
Dealing with Tough Times
Let’s face it when challenging things happen. We all face tough times and life can throw us curve balls. The problem is that when we are feeling stressed, anxious or low we are not always at our most resourceful. It's hard during these difficult times to think about what could help us the most.
This is why it’s always good to prepare for these times in advance.
It helps to prepare some reminders or some actions that we could do.
In this episode we create a plan for tough times and consider the things that can really help us overcome them.
Focusing on the Good
In today's episode we look at activities you can do to feel better about ourselves. Often when we are feeling in a bad place we tend to focus in on all the things that are not working in our lives, whilst the good stuff gets totally overshadowed. We forget all about our strengths, skills and great qualities, all the wonderful things about us that make us unique and special.
These exercises will help you reconnect and remind you of the positives in your life.
Ways to Deal with Setbacks
In this episode I talk about setbacks.
Setbacks are a normal part of life, things don't always go according to plan. So its important to recognise that setback are likely and they do not mean that you are useless, that its all pointless and that you are a failure. Watch out how you talk to yourself during these times because this has such a powerful impact on us. The way we talk to ourselves has the ability to lift our mood or bring us down. The way we talk to ourselves will effect our confidence and self-esteem, and can easily lead to us feeling bad about ourselves.
Can you change the conversation you have with yourself. Catch yourself when you are falling into unhelpful thinking , like I’m a failure, it pointless , its useless. And instead say to yourself. It’s okay, it’s just a setback.
And prepare for when setbacks are most likely to happen. There is always certain times when we might not be functioning as well as we could be. It’s normal to have times when motivation plummets and self-doubts creep in. What we don’t want….Consider when this might happen. Have you heard of the acronym HALT. Hungry, angry lonely and tired. If we are feeling any of those 4 or even all 4 at the same time. It’s likely that we are not going to be at our most resourceful.
So having some strategies up our sleeves for these moments can be really useful.
Think of setbacks like a bump in the road, simple a blip. Nothing more. And before you know it you be back on track. Don’t allow negative thinking to sabotage your progress, sometimes we forgot about how far we have really come and all the progress that we have actually made.
So when things get touch as they will try and remind yourself that it will pass. Things won’t be like this forever, and you have probably been through equally tough times and come out of it the other end.
You will also find me at kayholdsworth.com
Creating Better Relationships
Most of us want to fit in and feel like we belong. Its normal to want to feel that we feel connected with others.
But relationships with others is not always easy. It can be fraught sometimes with difficulties and even the best of relationships can have its ups and downs.
In this episode I offer some suggestions of ways we can build better relationships with people.
You can find out more about me over at my website kayholdsworth.com
Journaling Activity - Learning to be kinder to Ourselves
Here's a reminder of the 5 steps to challenge unhelpful thinking.
1) Identify the thought
2) Write it down
3) Challenge it
Ask yourself, Is this true?
Is this fair?
Is there another way of looking at the situation
What would you say to a friend who had a similar thought?
4) rewrite the thought. Create a more balanced and realistic thought.
We can also apply mindfulness which helps us to learn to interact with our thoughts differently. We have a choice how we engage with them. When we practice mindfulness we learn to become more present and in the moment and living less in our heads.
Now we all have an inner voice. This is simply the inner dialogue that is going on inside our head. Everyone has this. Unfortuntley for many of this voice can be harsh, critical and rather unkind.
Here is todays task that I suggest.
Think about a recent situation that has been a struggle for you or you have been finding difficult. Write specifically about what has bene challenging for you. Write about in as much detail as possible what has been challenging for you about this situation.
I want you to write about this for 5 or 10 minutes. You might set a timer on your mobile phone.
And really don’t overthink this exercise, you really can’t get it wrong. You don’t need to worry about punctuation, grammar or spelling. This is only for your eyes. You can use your mobile or computer . Do what works for you.
Now I want to ask yourself, how have I been talking to myself about this situation? How have you been speaking to yourself about this? The problem is that when we are feeling low , anxious or stressed this is often the times we talk the most harshly and unkind to ourselves. This is such as shame isn’t it, because this is the time we really need to talk to ourselves when we need to be supportive, understanding and offering ourselves reassurance.
I then ask you to reflect on how you talk to yourself and ask yourself what effect do you think the things you are saying to yourself are having on you? Is this way of talking to yourself helping or hindering you? Are you been encouraging and supportive or is the way you speak to yourself about this bringing you further down. Think about the effect you are having on yourself by
Are you been kind supportive?
Would you talk to a friend the same way you talk to yourself?
Feel free to come and be part of the Create Yourself Facebook group where I share a variety to tools and practical activities for self-discovery and change. You can also find me at kay.holdsworth.com
Activities for Managing Unhelpful Thinking
Understanding Stress & Anxiety
Self-Discovery Activity - What Do You Truly Enjoy?
This is such a simple, yet effective activity to do. All you have to do is make a list of 20 activities and pastimes that you enjoy. It really is that easy. The activities may be things that you used to do as a child or in the past, or things that you currently enjoy doing. It might even include things that you've hardly tried but are drawn to. Activities that you have a sense that you will enjoy. This is a great activity to do if you are feeling stuck in a bit of a rut or feeling lacking in energy and enthusiasm. It can also help to do this if you are considering changing careers and are unsure what direction to take. It can help you re-assess and remember the things that light you up. It can reconnect you to your values, what is important and what matters to you. What activities and pastimes make you feel alive. Once you've completed it take some time to reflect on any themes that jump out at you. What stands out? What do these activities say about you as a person? How long has it been since you enjoyed these activities. It can be quite shocking to realise how long it has been since you last did some of your favourite pastimes. Ask yourself, what gets in the way? If you were to choose one activity to do this month which one would you choose? To take a look at my list of 20 activities and pastimes visit my blog over at Kayholdsworth.com
Letting Go to Move Forward Meditation
What Makes You Feel Bad
Simple Ways to Feel Good About Yourself
The Ideal Day Guided Visualisation
Taking a Comforting Breath
A Guided Mindful Awe Walk
Grounding Techniques for Stressful Times
Find Your Anchor - A simple breath practice
Just One Breath Meditation
A simple Grounding Technique
Connection & Wellbeing - Ways to Connect More
Creating Your Own Mental Health First Aid Kit
A breakdown of the 5 Steps to Exploring Emotions
A 5 Step Practice to Explore Your Emotions
Getting Out of Your Own Way
Easing Anxiety- A Guided Practice
When we are anxious it can feel like we have no control. Yet we can control our breath. The breath can be our secret tool for helping ease anxiety. This simple practice explains how by changing our breath pattern we can start to send a signal to our bodies that we are safe.