Tag Archives: Self Growth

Living Life as an Adventure

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Team TLC

It’s time I share with y’all about some changes to this here blog.  I have been posting articles, tips and how to information relating to Facebook and other Social Media outlets and mixing in personal posts here and there.  Social Media will no longer be the focus.  There are so many people, experts and gurus writing about this and staying on top of it, I really don’t feel I have anything more to add to that conversation.

Now, don’t get the wrong idea, I WILL still be teaching, speaking about and training business owners how to effectively and efficiently use Social Media Marketing for their business with a heavy emphasis on Facebook.  By nature, I am a “digger”.  I thrive on sleuthing and figuring out all this Social Media jazz.  I will continue to do that, so my clients don’t have to!

Those of you who were here for Social Media tips may want to unsubscribe or remove it from your feed now.  When I feel I’ve got something to add to the conversation, I may throw in a post here and there about Social Media; but primarily this blog is about to open up and share my world with you in the hopes that it inspires those that may need it, motivate those who may want it, help some of us to think different and hopefully give you a good ole hearty laugh sometimes.

In addition, my goal is to take my Communication at Your Fingertips presentation and the Educate n Motivate Bootcamp to schools and conferences across the United States.  In addition, I will spend as much time as possible on the Turning Views Foundation, of which I am the Founder and President.

I will incorporate posts telling my story so as to qualify why one may be inspired or motivated by my and our lives.  This also means you will hear more about my daughter, Lillian Darnell, and my son, Thomas Darnell, and the roller coaster ride of being a Mom to a differently abled child (Lillian).  The thing is the three of us are a team – we call ourselves Team TLC.  We are by no means the perfect little family – how boring would that be anyway! And, yep, there are times when it’s downright not fun in this household!  We are on a journey and are darn well gonna give it our best shot at enjoying every single day and live our lives as an adventure.

I have just recently realized that my little family – Team TLC – is the core and foundation of all that I do. I must care for and nurture myself and my family in order for the structures that I, and we, build to be sound and sturdy.  My family, Team TLC, IS my business.  I hope that y’all stay along for the journey, have FUN with us and share with us too! We gonna have a ball y’all!!

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Dares, Choices and Changing the World

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(Based on a Toastmaster’s Speech I delivered today, April 5, 2011)

Three concepts for all of us to ponder . . .  The first concept is that of choices.

Do you live each day thinking, “Well, I’ve got to do this and I’ve got to do that”.  Or, “I’ve got no choice in the matter?”  Or, do you live each day thinking, “If I choose this one, then this will happen and if I choose this one, then that will happen.”  I CHOOSE this! Do you say “I HAVE to do this, that or the other” or do you say “I WANT to do this that or the other”?

A poem to share with you –

“Happiness”

Life is so happy, it makes me cry.
And I cannot, tell a lie on April Fools.
The point is that you will have a non stop lovable brain.
And it has our choices in it.

Now, I think this is an absolutely beautiful and powerful poem! I may be a bit prejudiced, though, as my 9 year old daughter, Lillian Darnell, wrote it this past Friday, April 1, 2011. I’d like to share why I think, partly anyway, that Lillian created this poem.

Lillian received an email from a family member with the following statement, “I often feel like I have no choice” .  I disagree with this attitude and felt the need to share that with Lillian.  I explained to her that each of us ALWAYS has a choice.  No matter what decision we are faced with making, no matter what situation or circumstance, we always get to choose. There are consequences to accompany whatever we decide; but we get to make that choice.

I believe it’s not even which choice you make that matters as much as what you do with your choice after you have made it.  Once we make a choice, we should then make it the right choice! She really took my point of view to heart and mind.

Choices – one concept to ponder . . .  Which leads me to the second concept of Changing the World.

What are you doing to contribute to our World – whether it’s changing it for the better or adding to it for the better? I’m not meaning or saying we all have to be an Einstein, Earhart, Branson or Buffet. What I mean is in your own way – what has meaning to YOU!

Do you wake up every morning and conform?  Are you doing the same thing day in and day out – doing something that means absolutely nothing to you?  Or are you waking up thinking, “Hot Darn! Another day to work towards my goal.  Another day to enjoy the heck out of while I’m working my way to that goal.  Another day to squeeze every ounce of joy, love and happiness out of!”

Two concepts to ponder – Choices and Changing the World.  Now to wrap those two concepts up and give them a nice foundation with three words – I Dare You!

I Dare you to retrain your mind and thought habits about thinking you have no choice in matters.  You have a CHOICE with every single decision that involves you. I Dare you to do what you want to do with your life. I dare you to not conform.  I dare you to stop doing it the way everybody else is doing it cause that’s the way its always been done.  I dare you to have FAITH in yourself and what your gut or your intuition is telling you should be doing in this World! I dare you to be Different!

The thing is if we look back at our history and even our present, and look at the people who are successful at doing what it is they know they were meant to do; there is ONE common thread amongst them.  I’m talking about the creators, the innovators and those that change the world.  Race does not matter and gender does not matter.  That common thread is that they were and are DIFFERENT.  In the beginning everyone around them whispers or even says aloud, “(S)he’s weird – (s)he’s different – what’s wrong with that person?”

It is my belief that each and every one of us is different in our own unique and special way.  I think way too many of us cram that different part of us back down saying “Get back in there, You’re making me look weird, You’re making me look different.”  It’s time to uncork that different aspect within us and share with those around us for the benefit of ourselves and the world.  Amazing events will and must occur when we do this!

Just some concepts for us to ponder . . . I Dare You to Make Choices and Then Make Them the Right Choices, I Dare You to Change the World, I Dare You to be Different!

Another Lillian poem to leave you with –

“Pretty Flowers”

A poem is a sweet brainer.
You listen to music.
And the point is that your creative brain is a bank.
And listen to it.
I love you a lot, of pretty flowers.

(This post and speech were inspired in part by Earl Nightingale’s, “The Strangest Secret“{amazon affiliate link}, and William Danforth’s book titled “I Dare You“{amazon affiliate link})

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The Evolution of Communication

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Have you noticed it?  Have you noticed the way in which we communicate and conduct business has fundamentally shifted?  We are no longer solely communicating with our mouths and voices as a society.  A GREAT majority of us are using technology and social networking sites to communicate, work, conduct business and stay connected.  We, as a society, have shifted our communication style.  It is my belief that this shift has occurred in such a way to literally wrap it’s arms around the segment of our population who communicate with sign language or who cannot articulate in such a way to be understood.  Our communication methods are literally evolving to include more of our society than EVER before.  There are 8 of every 1,000 people in the United States who have some sort of communication disorder.

To fully grasp this just notice throughout your day how often you are communicating using technology via email, texting or social networking sites.  If you still conduct many of your conversations over the phone or face to face, stop and think, “How would I be having this conversation if I did not have the use of my voice or if I could not articulate what I’m trying to say?”  There are options now that weren’t available years ago! I, for one, believe there’s more to what is occurring in our communciation style than meets the eye.  I can’t begin to imagine where this is headed.  What I do know is that this is a GOOD thing for my daughter, Lillian, and those like her.

This is the VERY reason I was driven to create the Turning Views Foundation, the Different iz Good movement and the Gift a Voice Project.  We began a recycling program through which we collect last generation iPhones, iPod Touches and (soon) iPads to be donated to those who communicate with sign language or who cannot articulate.  **Update** We now take ANY used/inactive cell/mobile/smart phones. We also have it set up so that schools, companies, churches, etc can hold a Gift a Voice cell phone recycling drive and pay NO shipping for mailing the phones!

We also just got our first media coverage about the iPhone, iPod and iPad recycling program.  You can read the article at Reno News & Review’s website and The Gift of a Voice in Sparks News Tribune.  Please visit the Different iz Good website if you would like to learn more, see how you can Get Involved, take a look at our Wish List or even browse our Different iz Good store!

Would love to hear your thoughts in the Comments section! Thanks y’all!

Different . . . The New Normal

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I wrote a guest post over at “The Beauty Message Challenge” site.  Thought y’all might enjoy it!

It’s OKAY to be different. I’m not talking about being different to stand out, being different to fit in or even being different just to gain attention.  It’s okay to be YOU, the real YOU.

I’m talking about the different that lives within YOU.  It is OKAY to let that shine and to share your uniqueness and your differences with the world.  Let those differences radiate and glow from you.  You and others WILL benefit from it!

It’s taken me nearly 40 years to take this to heart . . . my heart.  I’ve been saying and thinking this since my special angel of a daughter came into my life.  But, it just now hit me that this message needs to be said and felt and lived by the little girl in me who was ALWAYS different and felt like she NEVER fit in.  My 9 year old daughter, Lillian, was born with a chromosome abnormality called 18p-.  This means a piece of the short arm of her chromosome number 18 is deleted.  This has rendered Lillian “different” in many ways from the typical child.  And, the main way this manifests is that she has speech impediments.

One of Lillian’s purposes as my daughter is to use my voice to spread the message to the world that Different is Okay, Different is Beautiful and Different iz Good. In addition, to help me learn this for myself and to accept and be okay with this for myself.  I can look back at all the scenes and times running through my mind and say “It’s Okay.  You were different, you didn’t fit in with the typical crowd, you looked different, your family was different, you were awkward, you weren’t stylish, It’s Okay.” And, it’s OKAY to let that go now.

Lillian is also my daughter to help heal parts of me that I didn’t even realize needed to be healed until this VERY moment.  When I came across the phrase “different is good” from a fellow 18p- Mom about a year and half ago, I asked her at the time if I could use that phrase on t shirts.  {Thanks SM ~ you are a beautiful, smart and amazing Mom to IM.} It has since grown into the slogan for my 501(c)3, Turning Views Foundation.  I had no idea at the time that the reason was also that I needed to heal and tend to some very old wounds for myself.

And, for you reading this, it’s OKAY.  It’s okay to be different.  Let us please never use our differences as an excuse for failure; but instead use our differences as a reason to succeed and for success! Whether those differences are genetic, whether those differences are from disabilities or whether we are just plain different!

Different is Beautiful . . .  Different iz Good . . . Spread the Word Y’all!

Head on over, and check it out!  {I met the co-creator of this Message and this fabulous iPhone Application at the eWomenNetwork Annual Conference which I attended last July 2010 ~ Isabel Rasmussen).

A Moment of Defeat

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On Wednesday, I watched my daughter, Lillian, as she got off the school bus, struggling with her backpack and walking to her destination in the back of the school.  My heart sank as I stood watching all the other kids bouncing around running and walking normally with their backpacks with not a struggle in sight.  Tears welled in my eyes; it was just one of those days.  She absolutely refuses to wear a backpack on her back and thus ends up carrying it by the little loop on the top.  It’s almost as big as she is.

As I drove home, it seemed as if time stopped for about 15 seconds and I felt so completely and utterly alone.  I chose to feel sorry for myself for a minute and welcome a wave of defeat ~ sorry that I was not blessed with a “typical” little girl.  A little girl that a mother can share life’s little moments with, talk with, have an actual verbal conversation with, hug and snuggle with, watch grow and blossom like most other girls.

I and moms like me have a different life with our daughters.  We watch them struggle with something as simple as carrying a backpack to class, struggle to speak and talk in a way that can be understood with mounting frustration because their little mind is overflowing with all the right words and phrases; but, the mouth, tongue and lips do not work as they should so we can understand.  We watch them struggle to dress themselves, struggle to open things, cut things, play on the playground.  We must listen to their complaints of tummy aches, this and that aches and not know why and add that to our list to try and figure out.  We don’t have the typical “How’d your day go and what’dya do with your friends today honey” conversations?  Ours are “How was your day today?”  And we get a thumbs up or thumbs down. Conversation over.

Only a minute though . . . .

I have a beautiful daughter who shines like no other.  She has a warm loving heart.  AND she is one stubborn hard headed little lady.  I am blessed beyond blessing that she is stubborn and hard headed.  This means she keeps on trying and keeps on trying and doesn’t give up as quickly on whatever she is trying to accomplish.  I have had moments with her that made my heart feel as if it would burst with happiness and joy.  When a speech impaired child tells you for the first time “I Love You” and says “Momma” for the first time, it is a feeling like no other.

**LOVE OFFERING** If you find this content helpful, I invite you to toss a tip in the love offering bowl. With oceans of gratitude … Camilla ….

love-cards-in-a-basket-october-2016

This beautiful little lady, who is a self proclaimed fairy, will and does touch the lives of whomever she encounters in such a beautiful way that cannot even be described.  I am her mother for a reason and she my daughter for a reason.  Lillian has a beautiful soul and had some lessons to teach me and will continue to teach me.  She does at times help me to stay grounded.  I find myself wanting and feeling I should be doing more for Lillian; but know that whatever I need to do will happen as it should and I should not force anything.

It is my belief that I need these 15 minutes of feeling sorry for myself and moments of defeat to enable me to come out on the other side stronger and more focused on the path I am on and headed towards.  What about you? Do you feel moments such as these (for whatever reason) are needed and helpful?

Go here to read “A Moment of Defeat – Take Two” …

I Wish I Wasn’t An 18p- Girl: Moment of Defeat – Take Two

Blessings,
Camilla
See It. Share It. BE IT … Spread Love Everywhere You Go!

Amazing news! My 16 year old daughter, Lillian Darnell’s debut book, “Where Would You Fly and Other Magical Stories” is published. Learn more and order here. 

Wonderfully exciting news! My 12 year old son, Thomas Darnell‘s book, Biggest Little Photographer is published. Be inspired! Learn more and order here.

And my book published in 2012, D iz for Different – One Woman’s Journey to Acceptance; which reached #2 in the Self-Help Category and #1 in Special Needs Parenting on Amazon.

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