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EVERYTHING CAN CHANGE IN A MINUTE

It was the summer of 1991, one year before the Barcelona Olympics. I left for Europe alone with my backpack on my back, sad to leave everything I knew – my family, my home, my friends, my everyday routine…my comfort zone!

I knew that I was starting a new chapter. No longer a kid but now an independent woman.  If anything happened, I was on my own. Everybody else was on the other side of the ocean.  If I needed rescuing, I had to count on myself alone. The concept can be scary but my need for adventure was too strong to ignore. This experience was one of the foundations in my life and I carry it with me to this day. You will soon find out why!

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Liz – Barcelona

I’d always dreamed of being trilingual, so I started in Barcelona. I went to a renowned international language school and made 3 good friends: an Italian, a Belgian-Portuguese and an American from California.

I had an amazing time discovering Spain – the food, the people, the nature, cafés, restaurants, life! Travelling can be paradise but, as life goes, everything can change in just one minute.

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Liz – souvenirs

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Liz & Julene – Corte Ingles

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Liz – Park Guell

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I lived with a Spanish family and another tenant, Javier. He was very nice. He told me he was from Porto, Portugal and that he’d had to get away from his hometown because he had a drug addiction. At that point he had been clean for 7 months & was looking for a new start. I know nothing about drugs and personally never felt an attraction to them.  I had a good friend at the time who’d been addicted to cocaine since her mother’s death. Strangely enough, like Javier, she had also been clean for the last 7 months. She had driven me to the airport with my parents and had confided in me that is was very difficult, like a 7-month itch.  At the airport I asked her to stay strong, and to not do anything stupid while I was away. When I met Javier I felt that by helping him, in a strange way, I was also helping her.

I was going to school every morning but I didn’t feel as though I was learning Spanish fast enough. So, Javier promised me that the upcoming Saturday he would take me to spend the day with his Spanish friends so I could practice & at the end of the day I would be trilingual!  We laughed together. We helped each other. He confided in me & in return for my listening ear and support, he helped me with my homework when I needed it. Both away from home, we had developed a nice little friendship.

One morning I was waiting for the shower before school. I knocked & knocked but there was no answer. Eventually I got really worried, so I went through the window to find him on the floor. I tried to revive him then ran to find a doctor next door, only to find out he had the needle in his arm. It had been hiding under his body. He had overdosed – he was dead.

The adventure was no longer a happy one.  The lady where I lived begged me not to tell anyone since it would be bad for her ‘reputation’. I went to school as normal, except nothing was normal. I felt like a walking zombie.

I kept wondering to myself, “Where is Javier now? Why didn’t my gut wake me up earlier? Did he come knocking on my door for help & I didn’t hear him? What if I could have stopped him? What’s the meaning of life? Why is this happening?”

I wanted to scream! I called my parents to make sure they were okay and because I needed to hear their voices. Of course, I couldn’t tell them anything – they would have had a heart attack on the spot! But I needed to be certain they were okay & make sure my friend Anna was okay too.

I went to school in body but my mind was not there, like I was on another planet. The happy energetic person I was had been transformed. Everybody was asking, “Are you okay?”

I felt like I stepped from paradise to hell in 24 hours. You’ve probably heard the saying ‘1 day at a time’. It’s so true, because 24 hours later everything was going to change again, like I said that is the rule of life!

That day, I couldn’t speak for many hours until at some point I was alone with my 3 friends and I exploded! I couldn’t handle it anymore. I was going crazy. When I did, I saw their mouths drop in unison. I felt relieved. I wasn’t alone anymore.

When I explained what had happened my friend Isabelle, the Belgian-Portuguese, exclaimed, “Enough with Barcelona, you’re coming home with me! Get your bags, we’re leaving, we’re going to Belgium & Portugal!”

So, we left. Isabelle & her parents felt so bad that they pampered me. They introduced me to their friends. I had all these offers from people who wanted to show me around their city, in Belgium & then in Portugal. I saw so many beautiful places. I biked in Knokke, Belgium and in Holland on historic tours with Bebelle’s good buddy Reggie & his friends. I met great people. I jumped from a rock into the beautiful emerald sea of the Algarve in the South of Portugal, picked lemons in the garden one day with Monique, Isabelle’s mom, and picked almonds one day with José, her dad.  I was back in paradise… until I had to leave. I fell in love with her family & that part of the world, because of their care and generosity. Really, Isabelle was a godsend!

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Liz, Isabelle & cousin – Algarve

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Liz – Las Ramblas

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Liz – Sitges

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A few years later I went to Isabelle (Bebelle)’s wedding, and she came to mine with her mom. I went back to Portugal with my husband & my son. A few years later Bebelle called to tell me that her younger cousin Justine was coming to live in Montreal to study at HEC, and she asked me to keep an eye on her since she would be far away from her parents. I was happy to, and since Justine has gone back to France, I’ve followed her adventures with her now famous company Respire. I’ve also made friends with her mom Nathalie & keep in touch with her on Instagram.

Today we can’t really travel, but my mind travels every time I cross path with Bebelle’s Instagram posts of her surfing in the Algarve!

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Bebelle surfing – Portugal

Why am I telling you this story? I don’t know exactly. Maybe it’s because I needed to visit happy memories in my mind, escape to better times?

Maybe I wanted to tell you something like… “Please don’t give up if something bad happens. Believe, because life works in mysterious ways, it really does.” Maybe I wanted to say, “Be good to people because 20 years from now, you could have a great friendship that started right about now!”

Or maybe I wanted to say “Thank you Isabelle for taking me away from Barcelona that day & bringing me into your world!”

 

Wherever you are, stay safe & don’t give up!

You are not alone.

A friendly face could be just around the corner.

 

If you like this article please let me know in the comments below, and by sharing and giving it some love! If you’ve made friends travelling or met people that have helped you out in a time of need, please share your story with me & tag them in the comments to say thank you!

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Do you believe in miracles?

You know in fairy tales how there are genies, magic wands, fairy godmothers and any number of beings and items that can make whatever you want magically appear in an instant? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we had one of those in real life?

But, of course, we all know life doesn’t happen that way… or do we?

When clients contact me, they want success. They want clients calling them from everywhere, ready to buy. They are looking for the quick fix. The magic wand. The miracle worker.

And I don’t blame them… because I am the same way!

I am always looking for that magic, quick result. Part of my brain knows it doesn’t make sense, but another part wants to believe.

I start a diet and after one day of salad, I jump on the scale anticipating the number will have dropped. I start a workout and when my muscles are sore the next day, I have a quick 10 seconds of believing I have transformed. I try a new mascara full of promises and before looking in the mirror, I am convinced I’m going to look like Meghan Markle or better!!!

We all do this, so… why would our brains be any different in business?

I once had a client who believed in “magicians”.  He had a great store with great products, but those products were expensive, his location was terrible and he had no consistent messaging.

His brain was also stuck on the “Big Wow”. He had everything to succeed but right there in his store, but kept looking for outside solutions. He wanted magic, THE quick fix.  Continuity takes time. Who has time?

It seemed every occasion I saw him he was hiring a new person. Each time it was, “THIS is it. HE is THE one.”

Every new hire seemed to have their own magic wand.

One was a PR person. She was going to make him famous because she was so well connected. She organised a beautiful event full of beautiful people. Some bought products, some discovered the store and came back, but there was no big “Hoopla”.

Next, it was a marketing guy who was going to make him famous by building him a fantastic website. This guy was “the best”. He had worked for big designers in Paris such as Burberry and Gucci. A few months later, my client had spent $25,000 on a website. The website was nice, but very slow. My client was happy at first. It was such a beautiful website, full of bells and whistles! But after a few days of people saying they could not find him on Google and the site was too slow, he was very unhappy. The magic bullet had missed its mark.

Then he associated himself with a fashion icon. Now, she was going to put the store on the map. She had great clients and would share that clientele. But, once again, the result did not meet his high expectations.

Finally, he hired a new rep. This woman was great at selling. The best. She was going to bring her clients from her previous store. It was going to be big! She did bring in some business, but it was far from the tidal wave my client was expecting.

What was missing every time? Consistency. Also, reasonable expectations. But consistency was the big one.

You will hire people. They might not bring the big parade you were expecting, but good people will continually bring you closer to the next level, step by step.

Be wary of big promises. A true expert has the experience and wisdom to know that there is no “big bang”. There are no miracles. There is patience and there is consistency.

Learn from each step forward. Take notes and keep going. Keep hustling!

Success is built on hard work, not miracles.

There is no magic. There are no saviors. You have to do the work yourself. You have to hustle, every day. An Olympic medalist doesn’t simply show up and win gold. They work at it, hard, every day. Great musicians don’t just pick up a guitar. They practice and experiment every single day.

If there is any magic bullet, it is routine. Repetitiveness, consistency and patience are what create “miracles”. As the championship golfer, Gary Player, once said, “The harder you work, the luckier you get.” Funny how that works, no?

I like to think that I bring a bit of magic to what I do. I help people bring out the “why” of their business and shine that light, brilliantly, through incredible videos. But I also work hard, work consistently and coach my clients on how to consistently get their brilliant, amazing message out there, continuously. Even pixie dust needs someone working hard to spread it around.

Do the work to ensure your message gets out there, every day. Be visible. Post pictures, quotes or better yet have a video series. Be present every day and the miracle will happen!

Barbara Eden