Lisa’s Story

“For as long as I can remember, I have been a faithful guide leading others to achieve and celebrate exceptional personal growth.”

As an author, entrepreneurial wife, mother, stepmother, daughter, sister, confidante, business owner and friend, I am honoured and blessed to wear all of these significant hats.

I was born and raised a small town in Northern Alberta. Although both my parents worked hard in the family construction and home building business, they were always there for me. Along with my two sisters, I lived the classic “middle class” lifestyle. My physical and emotional needs were always met and this allowed me to experience a very healthy, happy and stable upbringing. On occasion my mother did suffer from bouts of depression and anxiety. Looking back these occurrences allowed me to see them as a life gift rather than a curse.

My Story

An Entrepreneurial Wife

A Friend and Confidant

A Business Owner

An Entrepreneurial Wife

My husband Paul and I met when I was 19 years old and fell madly in love. We dated for one year, got engaged and married two years later. I felt at the time that I was young to be getting married but I also knew I did not want to let this amazing guy get away. I knew that he would guide me on adventures I could only imagine. My husband is a true entrepreneur in every sense of the word and living with an entrepreneur can be exhilarating and stressful at the same time.

We have been gratefully blessed in many ways. There was a time when I used to live in a constant state of anxiety believing that something bad was going to happen because I didn’t deserve all of the blessings that were being bestowed on us. It took me many years of self-reflection to understand that good things can happen without something bad following. I now know and believe that it is a choice to be fearless and live in a constant state of gratitude, happiness and abundance.

When my husband and I were first married we lived in a very small northern Alberta town and I often felt isolated missing my family and friends. This was a very big change from being a city girl to moving to a town of 3000 people. I was a stay at home mom for ten years while my husband worked 14-16 hour days, 7 days a week. Our business was doing well and we made the choice to work hard while things were busy. It made for a very tired husband and father and a very lonely new wife and mom. We continued working hard throughout the years and had two more children. To say we were busy would be an understatement but we usually always found time, although some years were better than others, to have fun and take care of ourselves physically and mentally.

Throughout our married life, we were always business owners. I understand the wonders and challenges of being married to a husband with an entrepreneurial mindset. Those born with the entrepreneurial spirit are fascinating beings, intoxicating, exhilarating, exciting, frustrating, exasperating and draining all at the same time. One thing they are not is boring! I also understand the importance, often the unrecognized role, of being the entrepreneur’s wife or partner.

An Entrepreneurial Wife

I always knew I was going to be a mother. I never really thought of the logistics of how it would happen, I just knew it would happen. I knew early on that if I wasn’t able to physically have a child, I would adopt. I truly believe I was put on this earth to birth three distinctly different spirits so they too may each blossom and fulfill their respective life purpose. Being a Mother to my three children is my life purpose and greatest life achievement.

An Entrepreneurial Wife

Throughout my 24 year marriage, I have been privileged to share parenting to my beautiful stepdaughter who is now married and has three adorable little girls. My stepdaughter came into my life when she was five years old. I understand that being a stepparent is often more difficult as your role as a parent is never truly defined. I remember a pivotal moment, before committing to marrying Paul, I asked myself “Am I ready to embrace having an instant family?” The answer was YES. I wanted to be a part of this little girl’s life. I am happy to say that our relationship has developed into a great and loving one. It was not always easy, as I know she will agree. I understand the trials and joys, when your desire is to form a loving bond with a child that is not your own.

An Entrepreneurial Wife

At the young age of 35, I became a grandmother. At that time, I still had three children all under 10 years of age. At 35 and with three young children, I did not feel ready to become a grandmother. By gradually embracing this situation helped me to understand that there can be tremendous beauty and joy when life doesn’t always present life experiences in perfect order. My grandchildren are wonderful blessings and I look forward to having many more.

An Entrepreneurial Wife

Despite the trials that my mother has experienced over her lifetime, I feel blessed to feel so very close to her and be able to help look after her needs as she grows into the later phases of her life. Rather than become a victim of my mothers trials of depression, anxiety and mental illness, I chose to look at it as a learning experience of how differently I want to live my life. Because of mom, I am more aware of how important it is to reach out and talk to someone when feeling down. Because of her, I have found successful ways to cope when I find myself having feelings of anxiety or when life becomes overwhelming. Most important, I learned how to separate myself from getting hurt while still supporting her when she was at her worst. Because of mom, my sisters and I became more compassionate with our mother and closer with each other. I am forever grateful for the lessons our mother’s illness has taught us.

After a courageous battle with cancer, I was blessed to witness my father take his last breath as he made his transition to the other side. It was one of the most intimate moments I have ever had the privilege to share. Dad was a wonderful hardworking, easygoing man who took everything in stride. He was always the one who was genuinely happy for you when things went in your favor and he encouraged me and my sisters to embrace life and follow our dreams. He was truly my Hero and I feel his spirit around me guiding me each day.

An Entrepreneurial Wife

My sisters are my light and my strength. It is nice to know that someone who shares your blood will always have your back and I will always have theirs. We have had our share of sibling rivalry but strive every day to maintain a close relationship with each other. We share a sister bond that only sisters who have had a mother with mental illness can share and all feel blessed to have had that experience.

An Entrepreneurial Wife

My closest friends, I can count on one hand. Rather than having many friends and acquaintances, I have always been one to have a few really good and loyal friends.
I place high value on being a good friend. I always try my best to be there as a confidant or just being that friend to experience new things and experiences. Being a true friend takes dedication and effort. Many people who meet me for the first time have shared that it is very difficult to break through my outer layer. Many have tried but not succeeded, however, once I put my trust in you and let you in; you will forever be in my heart.

An Entrepreneurial Wife

When my youngest child was five years old, I chose to open my own business. My husband was still very busy and we constantly tried to juggle kids, homework and sporting events while also trying to squeeze in some “date nights”. The business that I owned was exciting and fun however it just did not speak to my soul. After eight years of managing a staff at times from 15-27 people, I decided to sell it. Having been both a stay at home mom and a working mom, I understand the delights and struggles of both situations.

Personal Growth Expert

What makes Lisa different?

Taking care of self first

Strong spiritual faith

Living in a constant state of gratitude

What makes Lisa different?

Lisa is a Personal Growth Expert; Certified Life Coach graduate from Results Coaching Systems; has an extensive background in psychology and counseling; highly trained in Mental Health First Aid and First Responder to Sexual Abuse and Suicide Prevention.

Lisa is also a passionate catalyst dedicated to helping and guiding others who are ready and willing to achieve a higher level of personal growth. Individuals who are experiencing positive or negative life transitions or need a plan to successfully eliminate and conquer fears are Lisa’s specialties. Regardless of what is preventing you from moving forward, Lisa believes it is imperative before dealing with any transition, facing fear, dealing with challenges, coping with stress to first build a daily personal self-care program.

What makes Lisa different?

Like airplane safety, the parent puts on the oxygen mask first. Personal self-care is exactly that, taking care of self, first. Self-care begins with asking for what you want. In order to ask for what you want, you need to believe that you deserve it. Self-care re-charges your batteries and is crucial in maintaining overall personal wellbeing.

What makes Lisa different?

My belief is that people do have good intentions to want to do their best and create a successful life and outcome for themselves and others. I believe that what you think about all day long you become. Life can be difficult at times and I understand that many can lose their way and get off track. I also believe people do the best they can with the information and understanding they have at the time. I also understand that life can change in an instant and your world can suddenly not make sense to you anymore. We all have a certain level of control over how we want our lives to look and be; most people simply do not have the tools to acquire a clear vision of what that is. We may not be able to control everything that happens to us but we can definitely control how we react and deal with life’s challenges and surprises.

What makes Lisa different?

From my experience, being genuine is demonstrating being real, authentic, honest and self-confident with no pretense seamlessly in both our private and public lives. Not being afraid of being vulnerable with others. Having the strength to own all parts of who you naturally are while at the same time having the courage to stand up for what you believe to be true about yourself. Being able to speak your truth and not be swayed by what others may be thinking or judging about you. Maintaining self-confidence when others are not in agreement with what you believe and share.

Professionally being genuine means, I won’t tell clients what I think they want to hear, I will compassionately share with them what I think they need to hear. Being genuine means I do not claim to have all the answers. Like all individuals, I am a work in progress constantly learning new things about myself that will result in strengthening my professional abilities to be in greater service to successfully support my client’s personal growth needs.

What makes Lisa different?

Being highly intuitive, I deeply feel things to the extent that the universe will physically slap me in the face if I don’t pay attention and listen to the messages being given to me. I trust my intuition explicitly. Listening intently to my intuitive voice has guided me to make the right life decisions and choices. Being able to read a person’s energy field to the extent that I sometimes surprise others and myself as I “just know” certain things about them without personally knowing them. What astonishes me is I do not have to be in physical proximity to a person in order for this to happen.

What makes Lisa different?

I want to know who you are, what makes you want to get up and out of bed in the morning? What thoughts keep you up at night? What do you dream about? What do you yearn for? What are you passionate about? What would you do if you weren’t afraid? Discovering what makes human beings unique and what makes them tick is absolutely fascinating to me and I am driven to wanting to learn and know more.

When I look in people’s eyes their life stories are revealed to me. I am blessed to be able to see individual life stories in people’s eyes. When I see homeless people begging on the street, rather than judge them, I compassionately wonder what their story is and what happened in their life that brought them to that place. Life can be fragile. No one is immune to ending up on the street. I also have a gift of being able to feel electric energy coming off people’s bodies. This can sometimes be overwhelming but knowing I want to understand and learn more about those individuals encourages me to delve deeper to discover more about their human psyche.

What makes Lisa different?

As a happiness seeker, I believe that creating and enjoying happiness is a choice. Life can hand you a shitty deal sometimes over which you have no control. What you do have is control over how you choose to respond when others disrespectfully treat you and the emotionally difficult events that happen to you. When those things happened to me, I personally had to teach myself to look at things differently. How I conquered dealing with negative experiences, over time, is I chose to focus on one thing that made me happy rather than on the negative experiences at hand.

What makes Lisa different?

After living a life filled with many ups and equally as many downs, I pass absolutely no judgment on anyone. I have dealt with people who suffer from depression, anxiety and many other forms of mental illness and I have witnessed firsthand that life can be a daily struggle for many. Everyone has a compelling story as to how their life has unfolded good, bad or indifferent. Making judgement of others before knowing their story is very sad. What I have learned is that when you judge others on some level you are subconsciously or consciously judging yourself.

What makes Lisa different?

Spirituality plays a significant role in my life. I choose to make it a priority by taking time everyday to incorporate my spiritual beliefs and practices into my daily routine. I am not religious but honor and respect the spiritual and religious choices of all people. I also believe we are all spiritually connected on some level and are each spiritually guided throughout our entire life journey.

What makes Lisa different?

Living in a constant state of gratitude is a choice. I have proof that practicing this belief has shaped the way my life has turned out. When I am immersed in a total state of gratitude my heart feels like it will simply burst out of my chest with joy. Even when my life is bleak, worrisome or not working, I feel grateful as I know there is a higher purpose and meaning occurring within all of my life experiences even though the purpose and meaning may not be revealed to me at that time. Living in a continual state of gratitude has helped in keeping me humble.