A Thank You, Some Insights and an Apology

The Certification Program was absolutely amazing! My brain is still squishy, but it could also be from having the flu all week. I just wanted to thank

@Aaron Fletcher

@Penny Chohaili

and the entire AFM team for their dedication to creating such fantastic training, and always working towards making this training better. They are a stand for us to make our lives, and the lives of the people we're going to help, better. I have gone through many different marketing trainings in the last 15 years, and this is the only one I've come across that lays everything out in an easy to follow system. And AFM is one of the very few companies out there in Internet-land, that cares about the quality of the product they put out.

There's only ONE CATCH......WE have to TAKE ACTION!!

Is this stuff easy? Nope. Not for me. At least not when I first started a couple of years ago. And even now, while it has become easier, I have yet to Master it. But the trick to Mastery is to be confident in your skills and ability, but to also always have a student's mindset and be willing to change and learn, especially now when everything is changing so quickly around us. My first "computer" was a typewriter that could save a couple of sentences in memory so you could edit it before it printed it out on the paper. It took me months to write and edit my Master's thesis, because any edit for content, spelling mistake or syntax error could change the format and/or page numbers of the entire document, which meant a complete re-type!! Aaaarghhhh!!😖 Lol!!🤣

And now we have AI! It blows my mind! I admit, at first, it scared the bejesus out of me, because I remember Arnie as the Terminator (not the Governor of California!) and the scientist in me thought, "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should!" It's taken me a few months to shift my fears around this while I got educated on what it can and cannot do. Does it mean that the premise of the movie iRobot is not possibility? I don't know, but I can't live my life in fear of what might be. And until VIKI takes over, Nicky is still in charge!

I only truly have control over one thing in this Right Here, Right Now moment, and that's me. I can only ever control my thoughts, feelings, emotions, actions, behaviour and character. To think that I have control over anything else outside of myself is an illusion. Now, can I impact others, and can others impact me? You bet. If somebody hits me with their car, it could be a small, large or even deadly impact. But what about the words people use speaking to or against you? How often do we actually pay attention to the thoughts, words or things we say to ourselves or others? How many times do we carelessly say things or make a joke and let them slide, while really only trying to hide our own secret pain, shame or discomfort? But while we can't control a car accident, we can control what we make it mean, or how we feel about it. And we can do the same with things people say. We get to choose to let it impact us or not.

Well, I realized last night after class, that a joking comment I made at the end of the certification class about having to do the "Sucka! Dysfunctional family get-togethers!" (as Aaron mentioned his road trip to visit family and that there's a part of him that would rather stay home with his own family), was out of line, and inappropriate. And while it may be something I can joke about with my own family, this was not the forum to do it. And for that, I'm sorry.

I fear I may have allowed myself to become too familiar in a space where very few of us even know each other, and I've never even personally met Aaron, so it really was a comment I should have kept to myself. I realized that Aaron feels like a friend to me because I've watched so many of his videos and trainings. He makes me laugh, cry, scrambles my brain, and pushes me to do and be better and mostly, he's just authentic and follows through, and I believe that he really cares about all of us being successful. So his whole idea about just being your true authentic self, really is a powerful marketing strategy, except it's not a strategy. He's just being himself and sharing what he knows and loves. I allowed myself, without thinking first, to act in a way that I would with a friend, because in my unconscious, I believe he's a friend, just by the sheer repetition of watching his trainings and being engaged in the content. It did not dawn on me, in the moment, that this man is in fact, a perfect stranger. We are not acquainted in any way, but he has impacted my life nonethelss, and I haven't even launched my program yet!!

But for now, I would like to apologize and say I'm sorry to

@Aaron Fletcher

and anyone else in the Certification training that I may have possibly offended by my joking comment.

You know, I was feeling so upset and guilty with myself last night and today about this and was trying to figure out how to fix it. It made me realize that one of my biggest fears is to hurt or offend anyone for fear that they won't like me or that I'd be cast out. I was always shy and introverted, but I only ever wanted people to get along, be their friend and have them like me. And yet I was always so awkward, weird and was wearing neon colours way before it was cool, so that I never belonged, and I got made fun of...a lot. Thankfully, after doing the work I'm going to be sharing in my coaching program, I no longer really care if somebody likes me or not, and I have embraced my weird, awkward, neon-loving ways, but I do still care very much that the messages I send or the actions I take, do not intentionally do harm to anyone. That's the best I can do.

I am reminded that it is up to me to take complete responsibility for myself and my actions, and to make amends for the mistakes that I make, because as a human, it's inevitable. We normally act and react in response to our unconscious programs, beliefs, and views of ourselves, others and the world. And ultimately, we can't ever control how others perceive what we do or say, because they are all filtering the information through their own unconscious programs and beliefs. Is it any wonder that we are all so guarded and afraid of being ourselves with others, at the risk of being excluded, hurt, betrayed, laughed at, or whatever else our core wounds are? And yet in our hearts, I believe we all really only want to be loved, understood, feel safe and belong. What else is there?

So, in the Spirit of Christmas, I wanted to share a little about who I am with you, and to let you know that I never mean to offend or harm you, ever. And even if sometimes my humaness causes me to fail, my true intention is only ever to leave you feeling better than you did before you met me. Let's face it, none of us are getting out of this life alive or without making any mistakes. We just have to decide and choose what to do after we fail and whether or not it aligns with who we want to be.

I wish all of you and your families a very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy Hanukkah or whatever other phrase you use in this world of never-ending political correctness. Lol. To me they simply all mean the same thing, I wish you all Peace, Love and Joy and a life that you love.🎄❤️

Oh and, I also want to thank you for taking the time to read this and others' posts, give helpful feedback or advice, and be a safe place for all of us to be creative and follow our dreams.

For there are many, because of their own fears and beliefs, who would try to squash them...

With much love and gratitude xo

Nicky 🙏❤️

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