Inspired in Gratitude

When was the last time you went out with your friends and spent the night talking about all the things in your life you were thankful for? Can’t think of a time, don’t feel bad, I can’t either. Gratitude is a tough word as it means so much more than a polite thank you said more out of habit than meaning. I have struggled for so long to be able to express it. I have sat in groups complaining about all the little things that bothered me instead of seeing the little things that I could be grateful for. Part of my 75Hard journey was personal development and I choose to read about the power of gratitude learning ways to bring it into my life. My family started by saying one thing we were grateful for at the dinner table to help us stay positive through the roughest moments of COVID isolation. Through this practice, I started to see how this small but powerful shift started to change my perspective and life.

Let me tell you a story about how voicing my gratitude to a complete stranger has helped shaped the last year of my life inspiring me to start believing in myself as I start a new business.

The first moment I saw Lia Valencia Key take center stage on Jamie Kern Lima’s Unstoppable immersion day as part of the Believe It launch; I felt her light shining so brightly intensified by the gorgeous yellow dress adorning her. She told the story of her being able to shine through her very humble beginning. Her message of internal light and gratitude radiated that day as she explained that no one can dim your light. She wanted to give women a way to express their internal light, so she started a jewelry line with the purpose of being beautiful and wearable while helping to radiate to their full potential. She had even designed a special bracelet and earrings for the launch.

At this time, I was in the midst of my 75Hard journey, still wondering where it would lead me. Inspired by her message, I really wanted to order the bracelet but it was sold out. I have not gotten back into the habit of wearing earrings since stopping when my kids use to pull at them as babies. This was a chance for me to reclaim a piece of myself I had lost, so I hit the order button. Honestly, they were not that expensive, but as a stay-at-home mom, I felt guilty spending money on myself. The earrings didn't disappoint. They adorned my ears for my 75Hard Phase photos and I could feel my confidence start to grow. Today, I hardly leave the house without wearing them and even wearing them for inspiration as I write.

I felt so grateful to Lia for inspiring me that I sent her a message through Instagram explaining how the earrings brought me confidence through my 75Hard journey.

Dear Ms. Key,

I wanted you to tell me how much I was inspired by you during your talk for Ms. Lima’s Unstoppable immersion day! Your energy was so contagious and so I was inspired to buy your believe bracelet. At the time, they were sold out so I ordered the earrings and you were so right with how lightweight, comfortable, and most importantly confident they make me feel. I honestly never indulge in jewelry like that for myself but I’m so glad I did. I wanted to share my transformation with you that I started on September 1, 2020. I did a program called the 75Hard. And as I completed the 3 end phases, your earrings added even more confidence to me. And so, I wanted to share but more importantly thank you for being such an inspiration!

Thank you, Michelle

Honestly, I never expected a response. My heart knew I needed to express and send my gratitude because she was so inspirational to me. To my surprise, two days later she responded with a voice clip that brought tears to my eyes.

My love, your message made my heart smile, dance, and fill with love. I’m so grateful every part of your wording, it is my prayers answer. I love you. I’m honored to be a part of your journey. I’m honored that you trusted me when you got the earrings. And you are radiating in confidence, you look absolutely amazing. I heard of 75Hard, I’m inspired by you, thank you for sending this, actually you just poured light into my life seeing your transformation. I’m so grateful you are radiating wearing Valencia Key because that’s my dream. Let’s just choose to keep pushing. God shows us where we are supposed to be even if it doesn’t look easy, we go for it anyway. I’m so excited you are just doing it and radiating. I love you, I’m honored, as much as your loving words say I am an inspiration, Michelle, you are also an inspiration to me so thank you for being a light in my life. Thank you for radiating, every time you put on your Valencia Key earrings it is a reminder, put your chest up, radiate that light, walk in love, and keep preserving and all your dreams it will be hard but they will come true. And I love you, love you.

This message lit up my heart, and this would have never happened if I had not recognized the gratitude and decided to share what I was feeling. This was only the beginning….

I was working up the nerve to go live and announce to the world, well my Facebook friends, that I was starting a business called Our Circle of Grace. I wanted to help support women who feel overwhelmed, alone, or lost to gain a sense of calm, belonging, and direction through a self-care routine while matching them to their own Circle of Grace. During my preparations, I came across a Facebook Live of Lia’s announcing she was having her first live selling event through her own website. In her message she expressed her nerves, but that she was going to push through them to make it happen. Understanding her feelings at the moment I reached out again,

What a beautiful message you put out. So inspiring I might get the nerve to do my live tomorrow! I can't wait to see you shine Thursday night! Thank you for filling my cup today! This was the push I needed as I went live myself and shared my vision to the world, wearing my Believe It earrings.

She responded after my announcement with a voice clip, “Yay, yay, yay oh you just made my entire day. Congratulations, I love you. Keep persevering, keep pushing through to your dreams, don’t stop, keep radiating, I’m so grateful you’re doing it in Valencia Key jewelry, it’s my prayers answered. I love you.”

Lia had her first live on her website right in time for holiday shopping. Despite having technical issues the first few minutes, her bright smile shined forth as she expressed her full gratitude for each of us bearing with her as she took this uncomfortable action. During this live, she sold two wonderful sets: the Believe It set including a ring and bracelet, and a gratitude set including the synergy necklace and earrings. I was making my husband’s Christmas shopping easy and finally getting my Believe It bracelet and was so excited to have a matching ring. I was also thrilled to buy the synergy set as Christmas presents for my mom, mother-in-law, and myself. We were able to all get together on Thanksgiving, so I was able to surprise them with early Christmas presents. I cherished being able to share her light with them, and now reflect that light in each other.

I wanted to share the gratitude that had been given to me, so I wrote this to Lia, “Been meaning to share these with you pictures with you. I ended up giving the Gratitude sets to my mom and mother-in-law over Thanksgiving since we were all together. They absolutely loved them and it was wonderful to all match together. We especially loved the shine bright engraved on the back. I just love your attention to detail. And I loved the believed it set for me especially the ring made me feel more confident.

Today I had on the Gratitude set and Believe bracelet and ring. I got a compliment at Starbucks and made sure to tell her about the set and your name. But when I got home later, I realized I dropped the bracelet somewhere during the day. After being devastated, all I can think is I hope it finds someone who needs to be inspired by you as I have been! Hope you have a wonderful evening.”

Her authenticity shines so brightly through her voice during the message she sent me. “My love, hi, I’m just seeing your message and so many emotions. You all look so beautiful and you touch my heart, this is my dream, love you, but oh my goodness you lost your bracelet that crushes my heart. I really pray and love your mindset that someone receives it that needed that light that confidence that love in their life and it is received with blessings. I’m so sorry it’s lost, I’m so grateful for you, it looks so great on you the bracelet, the necklace, the ring and everything. And so grateful your family loves it too. Can you please tell mom and mom-in-law that I love them so much and thank them with all my heart for being my light and my light through you and now all of us are connected forever inspiring each other to keep believing, to keep dreaming, to keep gratitude, to keep light. I love ya, thank you!”

As I worked to develop content for my website and worked to promote my business, I kept doubting myself, but I kept pushing forward inspired by Lia and her jewelry. When coming up with the next topic to discuss Lia’s face kept popping into my head as I wanted to find a way to share what she had meant to me. One day, after a rough morning with the kids and doubting myself altogether a friend suggested I try to change my perspective and focus, so I listened to myself and tried to push forward some gratitude and sent this message.

Both my mother and mother-in-law have loved the sets! It's been so wonderful to share them with them. I also decided to use BELIEVE as my word for this year and your ring and earrings are the perfect reminder. I'm always getting compliments and sharing how much I love your jewelry, story, and light that you share.

In my journey of starting a business, I’ve decided to start a blog. The blog focuses on habit-changing tips including self-care tips with moms being my target audience but can resonate with anyone as well. Recently, I have started to collaborate with others as I write these pieces. I did one on a beauty routine and am currently working on a few more. This path has brought your beautiful face to my mind so many times that I couldn’t look away anymore. My negative thoughts kept telling me you’d be too busy or my blog would be too new to pique your interest.

I decided to push those thoughts away and look at my beautiful BELIEVE ring and share my vision with you believing you would want to collaborate.

These are the defining moments, taking that uncomfortable action because of the gratitude that is inside. I took what was starting off as a rough day, paused in gratitude, to change the course of my day. And two hours later, I received…

Hi Michelle, my love, oh my gosh, this makes me so happy, everything you wrote, I’m so proud of you. I’m so grateful that you are radiating in Valencia Key. Your strength is defining as Valencia Keys is continuing unlocking it that is exactly what I feel and read and I am so excited that you are following that Believe It every moment and that makes my heart happy. I’d be honored to be a part of your blog.

That is the story of how Lia came to help me blog about bringing gratitude into your life, but as wrote that blog I felt our story needed to be told first. A story of how two perfect strangers could inspire each other in gratitude. Lia explains that we push energy three feet in front of us, and we each control what type of energy are we are pushing. When you choose to ground yourself in gratitude, then you push positive energy that attracts like-minded souls. When you choose to ground in complaints, then you push negative energy that also attracts like-minded souls.

Who do you want to attract into your life? Who is someone that you are grateful for because they have inspired you? Tell them, comment below how you felt after, and then come back next week for suggestions from Lia and me on specific ways to ground yourself in gratitude as well as check out Instagram to find lots of helpful tips on gratitude.

And for anyone intrigued, come check out Valencia Key wearable joy. We can all radiate light together in gratitude. Use promo code radiate for 35% off.