Welcome to the second edition of The Gratitude Diaries here on Substack.
This is a seasonal series where I reflect and share on what I’m grateful for at the end of each season and give you the opportunity to reflect on what you’re grateful for in your own life.
If you’d like to receive these seasonal gratitude reflections to your inbox you can sign up here:
If you’d like some music to go along with your reading experience, you can listen the playlist I listen to while working on this edition here.
Let’s get into the Autumn gratitude reflections…
THE GRATITUDE DIARIES: AUTUMN EDITION
In-person Coaching Events
This Autumn, I attended the Beautiful You Inspiration Day in Melbourne and also their 10th Birthday Celebrations and Awards Gala.
I was really grateful to get to be together in person at a coaching event for the first time since 2019. I have missed these kinds of events over the past 4.5 years and the connection of coming together in this way so much (and I also have to share and acknowledge here that coming back into going to big events like this has been a lot too!).
It was special to get to reconnect with people I haven’t seen in person in years, to get to meet people for the first time after only ever connecting virtually and being in person with people I get to (virtually) co-work with most weeks.
I was grateful for the topics and conversations on the day. I’ve been a coach for just over 9 years now and I love that the conversations, topics and the things we talk about nowadays at coaching industry events are different than what they were all those years ago as the community and industry has grown and evolved. Nowadays there’s even more integrity, wholeheartedness, honesty, realness and we really get to the core and truth of what being a coach and doing this work is really about which I love.
Being awarded Life Coach of the Decade
I was so grateful to have been nominated for two coaching awards in the Beautiful You Decade Awards.
At the gala I was awarded the Life Coach of the Decade Award 🥹 I actually still can’t believe it and even though it’s been a couple of months I still don’t know what to say. I have been reflecting on my coaching journey a lot and I know that I will likely share more in time.
Something I do know is how grateful I am to be able to do the work I do and for the people who have contributed and supported me in doing this work.
Huge gratitude to:
💫 Julie Parker and everyone at Beautiful You Coaching Academy (where I trained to become a coach) for the significant role they have played in me doing the work that I do, for everything you do for all us Beautiful You coaches and for all that you do for the coaching industry. Thank you for all of this and for everything! Also for making the awards gala such a special night for us all.
💫 All the coaches in the Beautiful You community I know that I wouldn’t still be here doing this work 9 years later if it weren’t for you all and the way we all support each other. The community we have is beyond special and I am so grateful to get to be apart of it. The people I’ve got to meet through this community is everything!
💫 To all the clients I’ve worked with before, thank you for trusting me to be your coach and for being the reason I am the coach I am today. Every single one of you has contributed to to me learning and growing as a coach over the years. And for that I will be forever grateful!
💫 To everyone who has ever supported me in my work, in any way ever! It is deeply appreciated. And a special note of gratitude to those who supported me in doing this work when I was only 22 years old(!) I may not have continued without this trust and support so thank you.
Autumn Business Revelations
I’ve noticed something interesting happens to me in Autumn every year…
Firstly, I always feel like it is the true beginning of the year for me and it always feels like the beginning of my work year (as I don’t usually begin full coaching series until March each year).
Something else I notice that happens every Autumn for me is that I tend to have quite significant business revelations that lead to me making impactful changes to the way I operate, letting go of things, starting new things (like projects) and so on.
This Autumn gone by I’ve had several significant business revelations which have led to these two impactful things…
Starting this Substack.
One of my “hope to” things for this year was finally creating this Substack. My plan was to wait until I had completed this project and to wait until I felt like I could show up here regularly, however coming into Autumn I felt really compelled and inspired to stop waiting and just start so I did!
In March of this year I officially launched my Substack into the world and published the first edition of The Gratitude Diaries on Substack. I’m loving being on this platform and it has been fun and creatively fulfilling already.
Re-starting what I’ve been calling “My New Way of Working Experiment”.
Last year for the first time I experimented with having weekly focuses for each week of the month in my work and it worked quite well, until disruptions (and life!) happened and I sort of forgot to return to it.
Going into Autumn I felt like I couldn’t get on top of the overwhelm I was feeling and I knew I needed to find a way to work that was more supportive for me which led to me re-starting my new way of working experiment again.
I spent one month in Autumn taking stock of what wasn’t working and what I needed to change, the next preparing for and coming up with a plan on what I was going to do and the next experimenting with putting it into action.
I quickly noticed how supportive it was for me to have these focuses for each week and even though it is an ongoing experiment and one that I know I will adapt and change along the way, I think I found an approach that is going to be supportive for me. Let me know if you’d like me to share more about what I’ve been doing as I’m happy to share what I’m experimenting with.
A collection of Autumn favourites:
TV shows: One Day.
Movies: The Greatest Hits and Turtles All The Way Down.
Books: Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross (I actually read this one in summer but forgot to share it in the last edition but I think it has a more Autumnal vibe anyway!). What The River Knows by Isabel Ibañez. Funny Story by Emily Henry.
Music: The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology.
Drink: Spiced Pear Kombucha by Remedy.
Tea: French Earl Grey (this one is my favourite). I also tried an Earl Grey fog for the first time which I loved!
Instagram account: Carmen in the Garden.
Act of gratitude: Receiving an unexpected gift from someone I’ve been supporting. Receiving lots of kind congratulations about the award win.
Looking forward to: Spending time working on bringing this creation to life!
Gratitudes from my phone notes:
The groundedness of Autumn. Special dinner at one of our favourite restaurants in Melbourne. Getting to meet clients (past + present) in person for the first time. Seeing two of my favourite artists live in concert for the first time: The National and Ben Howard. Scheduling slow(er) and spacious weeks after big things. Grill’d and movie dates (which I’m convinced is one of the best forms of self-care!). Intentionally planning drives to listen to new album releases. Going on weekend trips (I did this a lot this season, so fun!). Going back to dance class for the first time in 13 years! First mushroom forage of the season. Going to the cinemas to see Challengers by myself and being the only one in the cinema.
Substack Gratitude
I love the platform of Substack and it is currently my favourite platform to head to when I am wanting to consume things at the moment. Because of this I thought I would start sharing the Substack publications I am loving and some articles I enjoyed reading each season.
My favourite Substack this season has been:
Receipt From The Bookshop by Katie Clapham.
Here are some posts I really enjoyed this season on Substack:
An important reminder: Remember when you wanted what you currently have?
A social media wake-up call on settling for surface-level connection because it’s better than nothing.
Found these insights on wellness culture to be really interesting. “Why is it that the healthier I try to be, the worse I feel?”
How I built a calm business. This helped me come up with ideas for my new way of working experiment.
And this article helped me come up with ideas on how I can approach work beyond sitting and staring at my computer.
Loved this and have saved to re-read when I need it: Things I’m doing today to help me feel better.
You Now it’s your turn…
What are you grateful for from the season gone by?
If you would like to you are welcome to share what you’re grateful for in the comments.
Or you might like to reflect on what you’re grateful for from the past season by giving yourself some time and space to reflect and acknowledge these things, you might like to write them down (just for you!) or share them with someone who will witness your gratitudes for you.
I have been loving putting together these Gratitude Diaries posts for you (it really reminds me of old-school blogging times!) and I hope you’ve been enjoying them as well.
If you would like to receive the next edition for Winter to your inbox you can subscribe below.
With Gratitude,
Chloe
Reading the Autumn edition of the gratitude diaries left me with a warm and cozy, feel-good energy. I appreciate being mentioned in Substack Gratitude, alongside other creators!