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As 2015 comes to a close,it’s the perfect time to reflect on the last 12 months. This year was so busy it seemed to fly by and it’s hard to believe what we achieved in such a short time.   

We worked alongside some amazing people this year, and as many doors closed some new ones opened and we were had great new opportunities, Setting up LeapHQ, closing out our EQC chapter, learning to live and enjoy our new home and keeping on top of my health definitely took up most of our time. There were plenty of “good golly what the @$&? have we done moments” and the  “we are giving up moments” sometimes seemed the easy option..   
However, as the year closes out we are so pleased we didn’t give up. Seeing LeapHQ come to life has been enormous challenge but a lifetime highlight. Creating a space that you, our LeapCrew, friends, family and Riwai and I love hanging out in has kept us focussed in those tough times. The icing has been having the studio and office at home allowed me to have a chance at a life goal of moving without crutches and our making our health more manageable – a gift money can not buy! 
While on summer break I’ve been spending some time thinking about all of the lessons that I learned. Next year is 20 years since I was diagnosed with Arthritis, it is a Leap Year and we are also celebrating our 10th series involvement with the Catch Fitness 20 Week Challenge. (Where Leap and our incredible journey began in 2008!)  

So much to share but with that said, here are five of the most important lessons we learned in 2015…

Stop Worrying.   All our years of worrying and so far it has all turned out, and we have had some pretty big things to face! But we survived. 2015 was a turning point. Now anytime I feel myself in a worrying cycle, we stop and see if we can do something to change an outcome and DO it OR if it is out of our control STOP and BREATHE and remember just worrying won’t make a scrap of difference to the end result. Things don”t always go to plan but often it is the uncomfortable moments that we learn the most about ourselves and discover new opportunities. 

Do what makes you happy!   Life gets busy, chores and stuff gets in the way. But 2015 reminded us again that life is precious and for many people we know 2016 will not be the same. Some have had loved ones passed on or those near and dear to them facing new health challenges that stop them doing things they want in life. Don’t wait to Live! Live your life from now and create loads of memories that make you smile. There is so much research about positive psychology these days and 2015 reinforced that discovering what you enjoy doing and doing what makes you happy is a gift you must give yourself in 2016.    

 
The greatest gift you can give is your time.   We feel extremely fortunate to be surrounded by the people we have in our life. From family to friends, to our LeapCrew, and LeapTribe, we get to hang out with people that we love and trust. When you surround yourself with people who get you and let you be yourself, it makes all the difference. Making time to spend with those that fill your energy bucket is a priceless gift. We have the privilege to be surrounded by some of very talented and wonderful people. We encourage all of you to take stock in who really matters to you, who supports you no matter what, and who supports you being happy. Show those people how much they mean to you, and spend as much time with them as you can. Life is too short to settle for anything less. Ps Oh and while I am at it make sure you give yourself some of that time too! Spending time by yourself should be treasured and something I learnt I need to do regularly to have more to give others. 

Giving Back is essential.  We have been blessed to have good support throughout our lives, and for that Riwai and I are very grateful. We are also aware that there are many, many people who need support. And there’s nothing that makes us happier than being able to give back. Whether it’s working with our LeapTribe, creating with our LeapCrew, or neighbours we work with in our local community, the recipients of the TutuMan scholarships (for starting journeys off the couch), raising awareness of Endometriosis with the extraordinary team at Endometriosis NZ, being an positive voice for Arthritis NZ, cooking a meal at Ronald McdDonald House or taking a box of blankets for less fortunate furry four legged friends, lending a hand is a huge priority of ours. It truly brings us so much happiness reaching out and supporting others.

Celebrate your milestones, especially the small ones.  There is no one like you in the world so embrace all that makes you unique and do the best you can do on the day. Keep smiling, relax and go at your own pace, If something feels overwhelming then break it down and focus on doing one thing really well, when you feel good about that one thing, move on to the next step! We did some pretty cool stuff this year. If we hadn’t recorded it or taken time to celebrate it would have all blended in and quickly been forgotten as we moved onto the next thing. By recording our milestones when the tough times hit I have been able to go back and refresh my memory bank with what we have already achieved! So the most important lesson for me this year was is when you achieve something that you are proud of stop for a moment, record it somehow and celebrate.   
  
What are the most important lessons you’ve learned in 2015?
Now we would love to hear from you… 

Much love, smiles and hugs Cate & Riwai  

Ps Also, I just wanted to say thank you to each and every one of you who follows us, comes to leap2it.com and categrace.com and reads our blog posts. We feel blessed for the community and tribe we’ve built up over the years , and love being part of your journey to discovering and sharing your good news! You’re AWESOME! 

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quote-leap of faith

One moment you are in the depths of despair worrying about upcoming rounds of infusion treatment.  The next minute you receive a message that you have been named a finalist in the Business Entrepreneur Category of the Westpac Women Of Influence Awards for 2014.  I pop on the jug, re read the email and grin as I remember I very nearly didn’t put my application in……

Applications closed a couple of weeks after I had been in hospital, we were out of our house for asbestos, arguing with EQR and couch surfing at my  mums and dads waiting to go home.   I had been advised I had been nominated and I had to submit and application.   The easy answer was to say No but I felt so honoured to be nominated that it was one of the leap of faith moments.   In the end I had a change of heart and decided if others had taken the time to write about me I should take the time to write about myself.     I hit submit and hadn’t given it another thought.  

The jug has boiled, the tea is made.  I do a couple of fist pumps and a YEEESS! Yelp what an honor! I sit in my favorite chair and just smile, one of those warm all over body smiles like you have just been caught by the sun as it peaks out of the clouds and falls all over you.

I take it all in.  The list of finalists is extraordinary and I am just blown away and so honored to be named.    This honor is super special as my whole reason for my businesses is to empower women to discover and share their good news. There is a warm glow from inside as I think of  all the women in my life who have inspired me.    My mind wanders to my nan.   When she was alive I would pop in to see her most days, and as the screen door rattled she would call out “hello love, come in and tell me all your stories”.

I never knew what an enormous impact those few words had on me and how 18 months later they have formed such a special part of my practice.    I am blessed to ask my wonderful women the same question and the stories I hear keep me inspired and encouraged to keep going.

Honouring women who have explored their good news, discovered it and are now CELEBRATING.   I am excited about going to Auckland and celebrating with them.    Win or Lose it doesn’t matter because today I feel I have already won with the life I lead.    I believe we’ll BE OK!

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What a wonderful relaxing start to this year. My first week was in the country and my bike has had a dust off and am building up kms every day. Last week was pottering and some planning before a girls weekend at the beach. Headed home today singing out loud and feeling ready for an epic year!

I love this time of year. Returning to training sessions and hearing everyone’s missions and ideas for a great year. It is an exciting month and we have so many events, tips and tricks to share. Looking forward to getting stated tomorrow.

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What a month.. I had many good intentions of blogging my thoughts on Christmas, it just seems like the month has flown by. Since I was a little kid i have absolutely loved Christmas. This year I went through a roller coaster of emotions on what Christmas meant to me. It was a thought provoking and interesting month, reminiscing about past Christmas’s, trying to work out what was important to me at this time of year, watching others in the enormous waves of all the commercial stress. Then there were my thoughts around the vast amounts of consuming we do on one day and how none of it sits well with my philosophy of moderation. I watched friends and family get into a complete state of stress. For a couple of days I became overwhelmed with it all too. After a wonderful month with friends and clients it still seemed to make no sense to me.

For some it is one time of year when many make the effort for loved ones and christmas is one day when the world stops so most can celebrate together. I hope that continues. Imagine how horrid it would become if shops opened even for Christmas morning.

Maybe after three years still in a broken house, waiting to move forward that I did for a brief moment become the Christmas grinch….

So this year we started a couple of new traditions. In lieu of client, friends and family gifts we gave to our favourite charity. We combined what our Leapstars donated during the year in our donate your weight campaign. And gave all the cans and two huge bins overflowing with treats for the influx of foodbank requests at this time of year.
It was such a wonderful feeling.

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Then we paused to think of those loved ones who weren’t with us this Christmas. We star gazed as the clock ticked over from Christmas Eve to Christmas Day and were grateful for all we have. I may have even seen Santa moving across the southern hemisphere sky..

While with friends and family yesterday we celebrated Christmas I heard laughter and saw the faces of the little people. With their pure excitement and delight of sharing stories of Santa I remembered why I loved Christmas…..

It’s a magical time for giving and believing in all things good. Reflecting on the abundance of what you do have and that the best things in life don’t always need the commercial bells and whistles. It’s a time for thanking those in your life who make a difference to you 🙂

Thank you to YOU for being a part of my life this 2013. The lows have taught me lessons and the highs have given me hope. It has been and amazing year. Looking forward to a magnificent 2014 🙂

Love, laughter and hugs to everyone and a very Merry Christmas and a happy and safe holidays xx

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What else should a girl do while waiting for the Eurostar…. Champagne tasting of course 🙂

Today was an amazing travelling day – early morning tube to to catch the lunchtime Eurostar, lunch in Paris and train to Beavious before taxi to the airport to catch a plane to the Algarve in Portugal – arriving at 11:30pm. It was surprisingly a very relaxing and enjoyable day. The snails for lunch were a highlight until we have arrived in paradise…

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What really matters in life is rarely on my daily to do list

So today was about washing, packing and blogging. Anne and Kevin have made it to work, Molly has been picked up by doggy day care and the painters have arrived… We are in London afterall, the washing is out, the packing can’t be done until thats done and the blogging..well its my blog so I guess it can wait!

Good that’s sorted then lets go……

When I left on my OE nan said don’t have any regrets. I didn’t really have a regret but I was sad I hadn’t taken enough photos of my favourite Underground Stations. I had also missed out on Paddington Station back in the day as the day I was going to go I had the flu and never fitted it in, so off we went for an action packed day of tube hopping, store stopping and and old english pub to finish. Riwai was amazing as we ran around like our own version of the amazing race. It was crazy and we certainly walked off all the food and wine from Emiles last night! Another epic day and we made sure we were all packed before bed so it would be more relaxing tomorrow as we head for Portugal – on another adventure via Paris and Beavious.

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The best things in life are not things

True friendship isn’t about being insperable. It’s about beng separated and nothing changes. Friendship isn’t about who you’ve known the longest. Its about who walks into your life and says I’m here for you and proves it.

Today was all about friendship, about two wonderful people in our lives giving us the most wonderful gift of their time and treating us to a day trip of fairytale proportions. Foxhills was simply equisite and while the boys played a round of golf with a cart so Riwais foot wouldn’t be a bother, Anne and I had a spa treatment then headed to the Manor house for a true English High Tea. And the magic didn’t finish there….. after a quick ride home we went to dinner at Emilles. A fabulous night of laughter, amazing company and food and wine to match our good moods. It certainly was worth changing our Eurostar for and a day of magical friendship memories, mmmmmm yes and a plan brewing to meet in Asia next year to keep us all focused over the next few months. Loving the Arrghhfeckit! Tour and its only Day three.

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Hugs were invented to let people know you love them without having to say anything

As we check out of the Sopwell my excitement builds again, just as I know I will see Kim again, my next hug will be for someone I met while on my OE in 1997. It has been a friendship from afar for over 16 years. Anne calls me Little Sis and I call her Big Sis. She opened her doors to me when I travelled and I often used her address as a base when I travelled back and forth from London. We only have a couple of days in London and despite having many offers of beds we know my body needs a break and Anne and Kevin, with their furry babies Molly and Terry are the perfect retreat to soak it all in. As they pull up it is just like the movies, squells of delight, true smiles from ear to ear and the long hug that says everything without uttering a single word.

The boys sit back and smile too, Anne jumps in the back and we non stop yabble yabble all the way to a country pub for lunch. I am so impressed to see salad and salmon on the menu and we sit back and catch up all afternoon in the most idylic setting – the pub is called the Cricketers and is dog friendly so we feel quite at home seeing all sorts of furry friends coming in after their walk in the common.

We are feeling nice and relaxed and my body is holding up well. Riwai decided to put a call out to everyone in the UK to meet tomorrow at a pub for a Sunday afternoon catch up. We are only in London for the weekend and we know it will be a big ask but it was the only way we could do it. We have a few yes’s so that is Sunday all planned.

As we are driving home, Kevin asks what our preference is for dinner. Riwai has been an amazing support crew not just here but over the last few years so the least I can do is let him pick dinner – knowing full well it will be his favourite and my least favourite Indian! Apparently no London trip is complete without a Curry and a Pint!

We have a great dinner and I must say the food was pretty damn good. An early night and a big sleep in the next day was just what we both needed. Ready to go again.

Another round of those perfect long hugs where you don’t have to say anything. We are so blessed to catch up with everyone, we were sad we didn’t have more time for those we missed, but all the same it is a great day.

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We are due to leave on the Eurostar tomorrow…. but Kevin and Anne think this should be our – Arrghfeckit Tour – They both have tomorrow off and have concocted a plan they think we don’t want to miss…… and before we know it we have rebooked the train for Wednesday.