#Creativeinspo, Seconds To Courage.

In this week's episode I'm chatting with Francis Arevalo. Francis Arevalo is a Filipino artist-producer known for his personal storytelling, thoughtful messages, and colourful production. He creates to uplift, inspire, and energize his communities. His music has been described as if he has "found and embraced a truth deep within himself, that he sees the world not through rose-coloured glasses, but in shades of optimism, hope, and beauty" (DOMINIONATED). Whether through song or conversation, Francis is dedicated to collective growth through meaningful relationship. He is also a passionate mental health advocate whose journey battling bipolar disorder through music was the subject of a 2017 Vancouver Asian Film Fest award-winning documentary "The Lion"; for this, he was named one of the Centre for Addictions and Mental Health Top 150 Canadian mental health advocates of 2018. He also tells this story through song in his EP The Sound of Healing. He is currently working on his debut album Home, Grown for release Spring 2023. He is currently living in Vancouver on the traditional and unceded territories of the xwməθkwəy̓əm, Skwxwú7mesh & səl̓ilwətaʔɬ. This conversations is sooo good! Francis opened up about his mental health journey and how through it, he experienced being judge and felt unseen and heard. Especially as a Filipino and among the Filipino community. It made me recollect when I experienced this first hand as well, and I got emotional. I was hesitant to include that part, but decided to put it out there anyways because, I was allowed the space and grace to let those emotions come through because of Francis and well, what a gift! He also talks about what he does to help him through times when he feels his mental health is being compromised and how important it is to understand and recognize any symptoms that may come up. In other parts of our conversation, Francis describes how he allowed himself to accept a job that gave him basic resources to live, but in the end allowed him the time and space to imagine and realize a dream. So, for any of you out there working that 9-5 that you are not feeling passionate about, there is a means to a end. It's about shifting your mindset, knowing that even though it's not happening "right now", trust that every experience you have, has the potential to work for you and your future. My Favourite Francis quotes: “All the questions that you have for yourself as you move through life, that keep coming up, know that that’s a great question and there’s a reason why it keeps coming up and I hope that you know that you also have the answers to your own questions.” "Im doing the work of cultivating my life’s garden and I'm not so attached to what’s it gonna look like in the end." "Once the clarity is locked, the momentum can't be stopped." Thank you for listening! Contact Francis: Email: [email protected] Website: www.uwidomusic.com IG: www.instagram.com/francisarevalomusic Contact Daisy Email: [email protected] Website: www.aporpro.ca IG: www.instagram.com/creativeinspo_daisy Resources: Canada Mental Health Support information: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/mental-health-services/mental-health-get-help.html United States Mental Health Support information: https://www.usa.gov/features/usa-govs-guide-to-mental-health-resources-from-the-government

This week’s episode features Meltem’s Algan. Her wellness journey led to Welcomley, a company she founded during the pandemic. Wellness for her meant finding the courage to admit she had an alcohol addiction and bravely moving forward to ask for help. Learn about what she did and continues to do to achieve a healthy well being on a daily basis. My favourite Meltem quotes: “On May 19th 2020, I decided to get sober." "There is one thing that is really standing In the way of me being a) happy b) productive and c) healthy and it is alcohol and if I cut alcohol on its own and just abstain from alcohol that’s not gonna cut it. There is an underlying issue here and I have to put myself into a program, I need to work on my physical and mental health." "I had to reprogram my brain into thinking look, you were not operating at your best, heres' a program that is introducing a new way of life and a new way of thinking, you need to be open to it..once I was able to open my mind to it, I found different ways to form my own understanding of spirituality and spiritual connection." “Your inability to sit still, to not check out for 5-10min is a good indicator that you might be using something as a crutch to keep the noise level up around you..when you start trying to control your check out method, there might be a reason you are holding on to that try and seek even free guidance at first." (on meditation) "10min of just resetting your mind, of pure clarity..changes the course of your day." Connect with Meltem: www.welcomely.app IG personal: www.instagram.com/meltem.algan IG business: www.instagram.com/welcomely.app Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meltemalgan/ Connect with Daisy: www.aporpro.ca IG: www.instagram.com/creativeinspo_daisy

This week’s episode is with Susie Miles, if you ever needed to look for inspiration on how and why you should leave a job that’s no longer serving you, listen to this episode!

Susie not only breaks it down how she did it, but shares the dreams she’s going for, after leaving a well established career. It’s not too late to start again, remember it’s not starting from scratch, and, it’s the only start that matters, to living an intentional life you love.

My Favourite Susie quotes:

"Even if fear is in front of me, I have no choice, I gotta knock it down, I just have no choice BUT to knock it down."

“No one is coming-and I think a part of me thought someone was gonna come, that someone was going to led me to where I had to go, to get out of the little prison I was in, the self imposed prison of course.”

"I was just getting impatient with myself, and I just came to a point and I’m like, I gotta do it, I just gotta do it and if I fail, well, I'll learn from that failure and I’ll just move on."

"Before you leave your job if you start making connections..start planting the seed early on, so it’s not as if you’ll be sort of bereft the moment you leave your job, you’ll have something either kind of waiting or something that you’ll be involved in, and I think that’s really helpful."

Susie's Bio:

Susie Miles lives in Northern Virginia and has for the past 25 years. She’s married, has two children, who are now in college, and a goldendoodle named Henry. Susie has worked in television throughout her career and but recently decided to leave the industry to pursue a new career in podcasting. She’s had a life long love of cooking and is currently developing her own podcast ‘Cooking and Convos’ which will be available in February 2022. Through the podcast, she’s hoping to inspire others to get in the kitchen to discover how they can easily prepare a good meal with simple ingredients, that won’t take a lot of time. She wants to show people they can love and appreciate the process of cooking without feeling burdened by it and that they also can look forward to the gift of a good meal at the end of the day. Susie has also written a children’s book this year ‘My Friend, the Light’ which had been in her heart for the past 20 years and is now available online at Amazon, Walmart and Barnes and Noble. It’s about a small boy and the love of his nightlight, which makes him feel safe (like a friend) throughout the night. She’s in the process of writing her 2nd book in the ‘My Friend’ series.

Contact Susie:

smilesmediaworks.com

IG: www.instagram.com/susiemiles88

Buy Susie's book: https://rb.gy/1pncld

Upcoming Podcast (Feb 2022): Cooking and Convos

Contact Daisy:

www.aporpro.ca

email: [email protected]

IG: www.instagram.com/creativeinspo_daisy

Creativeinspo Message #3: TELL YOUR STORY

That's write! WRITE it down.

Whether you are already doing what you love or just starting to follow what makes you happy, start at the heart of why you are doing what you do. It's important to remember this because at times when you feel doubt, when said 'ego' gets in the way, defining your story will help you stay aligned with your purpose.

This week I share my talk from the Creative Abundance Leadership Forum, hosted by our own guest, Clarissa Castillo-Ramsey. My topic was Story(TELL)ing, The importance of storytelling. I share my journey of quitting my 9-5 , what I did to give me the courage to do so, to where I am today.

Thank you so much for listening!! As with all Solo Episodes I've included a worksheet attached with some key questions and takeaways into writing out your story.

Download your worksheet here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MhRHrQVJr1-wIP6Gia2EZHGGipWFFruH/view?usp=sharing

Contact Daisy: www.aporpro.ca email: [email protected]

IG: www.instagram.com/creativeinspo_daisy

In this week's episode I chat with Jackie Amsden, this girl is funnnnny, and she has a pretty fantastic story. As a teenage model who got to work and travel in Asia, she was able to turn her adventures into a novel. From what I learned through Jackie's story, the most important thing to remember is, outside validation can only go so far. Until you can truly fulfill what is lacking inwards, it is only then when one can build their voice authentically, and have a good time doing so!

Jackie Amsden is a mum, indie YA author and podcast host living in Port Moody, BC. These Mums Write is about helping mums achieve their writing goals and dreams.

My Favourite Jackie quotes:

"I’m still waking up..I’m just starting to do that, before you thought there was nothing, then you start to see things that were always there, but you couldn’t see them before and that’s the really exciting thing thats happening now."

(On social media) "It's just about you showing up and sharing who you are and being authentically curious about other people and it starts to build that way."

"You do the writing in your head that’s part of the process, so even if you don’t have time, but you’re still thinking about the ideas, they’re simmering, that’s writing too."

Thank you for listening!

Contact Jackie:

IG: www.instagram.com/jackieamsden

FB: https://www.facebook.com/groups/431217441728153

Jackie Podcast: These Mums Write

Available on Apple here: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/these-mums-write/id1590690580

Available on Spotify here: https://anchor.fm/jackie-amsden4/episodes/Making-mums-writing-dreams-a-reality--with-a-side-dish-of-hemorrhoid-e18rkf9/a-a6ss523

Contact Daisy:

www.aporpro.ca

email: [email protected]

IG: www.instagram.com/creativeinspo_daisy