Julia's Story

This week I was having a drink in a wine bar with Anne, my oldest friend.I had just been offered a contract for my third novel, and I was on cloud nine.

Anne reminded me how radically my life has changed.It was exactly this time last year she and I were sitting in the same bar, but on that occasion I was so distraught I had spent most of the evening crying.

Things had come to a head that evening and I knew I needed practical help in sorting out my life. Sometimes desperation is the spur that forces us to take action to change things for the better.

I had heard of Fiona Harrold from her books and television appearances. She had turned her life around and I admired her positive ‘can-do’ practical approach to making her clients’ dreams come true.

Burning my Feet and Breaking my Heart!

We arranged to meet, and I explained thatthree years had drifted by since the publication of my second novel, Chalet Tiara, without much to show for it. Chalet Tiara hadn’t sold as well as my first novel, Pandora’s Diamond. That had been marketed as an ‘It Girl novel’ and as ‘It Girls’ were widely believed not to be able to read, let alone write, this extraordinary concept had yielded huge publicity and sales.But by my second book the novelty had worn off and sales were disappointing.

I had been beginning to attract some television and radio work, but as my confidence dwindled this began to dry up too.

I began to make half-hearted attempts to start writing again but I felt jaded and blocked. When I mooted the idea of a third novel my editor laughed nervously and didn’t return my calls. My creative spark was fading away.

As my courage crumbled I threw myself into environmental politics, ineffectually representing the Green Party in elections in Kensington and Chelsea and losing my deposit. I moved house several times and travelled constantly.

In desperation I attended a Tony Robbins fire-walking course in Fiji, before eloping with a fellow fire-walking protagonist to Tahiti. But it didn’t help and I just ended up burning my feet and breaking my heart.

All these were character-building experiences but didn’t get to the root of my frustrations. I was seeking answers outside myself, without realising that unless one sorts oneself out from the inside, nothing will really change.

I longed for a time when I could have an effective platform to promote animal welfare and environmental causes, but I didn’t know where to start.

I decided to concentrate on television work. I attended a dodgy television-presenting course, had a television showreel made and sent it to dozens of companies, but there was no interest.

I was juggling so many novel and television proposals in a half-hearted way and my attention was unfocused. I was exhausted and had developed an unsightly nervous rash on my face and body, which further depleted my confidence.

Moving Forward

During our meeting, Fiona and I discussed what I really wanted from life. To my amazement, she précised my jumble of ideas onto half a side of paper, and together we formulated a day-to-day programme on how I would achieve them.

A good life coach is skilled at distilling the essence of what the client wants from life and translating it into a do-able, step-by-step plan.

She explained that if I wanted results it was quite simple. I would have to do more. I was focusing on the effects but needed to focus on the causes to make those effects happen.

‘Many people feel they must feel confident before taking action’, she went on, ‘but taking the action, making that call, stretching yourself, in itself breeds confidence’.

Indeed, the more I challenged myself, the stronger I grew.

She also recommended some very helpful Bach and Bush flower remedies. These are non-toxic and work in the body to provide harmony and balance all forms of emotional and physical distress.

I left our meeting feeling more optimistic than I had for months, with a concrete list of things to do.

I began to call Fiona up every week. This is very motivating. Knowing a chat is looming is a fabulous incentive to pull my finger out and get cracking. I am keen to earn her praise, and dread incurring her disappointment and so I make far more effort than if left to my own cowardly devices.

Real Change

I barely recognise the miserable person I was this time last year.

I now have a new publisher and my third novel, Adventures of a Spiritual Shopper, based on the thrills and romantic spills of life in the eco-slow lane, is well underway. I working full time as a freelance writer, and my ambition of being paid to write and travel was fulfilled when I was recently sent to report from Greece, France and Hollywood.

I had the opportunity to promote animal welfare issues when I was asked to appear in the fly-on-the-wall documentary, Chelsea Tales, which has led to several other interesting offers of television work.

Chelsea Tales provided a powerful opportunity to expose the cruelty of factory farming on prime time television. When I broke into a factory farming pig unit the secret footage I recorded was shown on the programme and in the newspapers, causing outrage. VIVA! The animal welfare charity, have since made me a Patron, and I have a growing platform to promote animal and environmental issues that rarely get media exposure.

Another unexpected bonus was that after a several years of dating disasters, a man for whom I carried a secret torch but could do nothing about as I was married at the time, saw me in the programme and discovering that I am now divorced, made contact and we have since enjoyed several dazzling dates!

No Accident

None of this has happened by accident. It is the result of sheer hard graft, and on many occasions frightening myself to death. No outside force or person can wave a magic wand; ultimately it is up to each one of us to make our own luck in life. However, sometimes we all need a little help to put us on track and Fiona has been the catalyst for turning my life around.

Hiring her as my life-coach was one of the best investment I have ever made.

My Buddhist Practice has taught me that Right Action leads to Right Thought. However in the west we often like to wait for the Right Thought before taking the Right Action. Life coaching has prompted me to really apply this Buddhist principle, and consequently my life and environment have vastly improved.

I have learnt to stop waiting for the right thought to kick myself into action, and instead to think, what the hell, just do the scary thing. You have to show your environment you are serious with concrete action!

One thing leads to another and once you set a train of success in motion it attracts more of the same.

Julia Stephenson

Visit Julia’s Website

Her novels, Pandora’s Diamond and Chalet Tiara are available from Amazon.co.uk