Rise & Shine Interview: Elizabeth McKenzie
I'm excited that today, Elizabeth McKenzie, is “Speaking From the Heart” and sharing her experiences with all of us. After reading Elizabeth's writing I had to ask her to be part of this series. Thank you Julie Parker (Beautiful You Coaching) for connecting us!
The "Speaking From the Heart" interview series is a weekly feature. Every Thursday, inspiring writers who have empowered me speak from their heart, join the dialogue, and act as role models for other aspiring writers on their journeys. Let the words of these writers guide your path. I encourage you to listen to their stories and apply the lessons in your life.
Elizabeth McKenzie is a twenty-something speech pathologist + life coach (and kinesiologist in training) from Australia. Her home on the interwebs is Your Highest Self where she helps women rock their life with confidence, passion and purpose, showing them how to make that seemingly impossible dream life a reality. She is also the creator of Bringing Sexy Back Bootcamp, an ecourse to help women get their mojo back, speak their truth and learn the skills necessary to create a life they’ve chosen for themselves. Read her interview below.
Why do you believe self-expression (speaking from the heart) is important?
Because if we don’t express ourselves then we aren’t living. What are you doing on this planet if not to be the person you are meant to be?
How has writing empowered you in other areas of your life?
Writing has allowed me to understand all the thoughts floating through my head. Usually when I start writing I’ll start with one idea, one moment, and as I write I undercover more more things, my idea shifts and morphs as I go deeper, and explore.
The written word is so powerful. Getting it out of our brains and seeing it on the page is quite confronting and especially having people read it. It’s all helped me to be more confident.
How did you find your authentic voice through writing?
From starting somewhere and doing it over and over and over again. It’s really hard to get that authentic voice straight off the bat. Mostly because as we write more we find ourselves more. It’s a process.
How did you develop the courage to stand tall (i.e., get the courage to share your writing)?
For me it was probably a now or never type situation. I’d ummed and ahhed and written so much in my diary about wanting and needing to do this that I just had to say okay, I’m doing this now or never. Knowing that it wasn’t the be all or end all, I wanted to start my blog to express myself – my thoughts, my ideas and my experiences and share them, so there wasn’t a failure element to it. Always coming back to your big and underlying why, and for me that was to try and help people through sharing my words. In doing that, I couldn’t fail.
And I hired a coach to help me press publish and press share. Who understood me, and who 100% supported me..
When you have a hard time writing, what do you do to work through it?
I allow myself to start wherever. I allow myself to write disjointed. To let my brain just braindump catch phrases and sentence snippets and tell myself that I’ll work out how it weaves together.
I’ll also start with the end and ask myself, what is the purpose of this piece? What are the 1-3 things I want my reader to get out of this – and once I jot those down I can work backwards.
How did you find your support group?
Clicking through from one blog I’d read for years to discover the Aussie blogosphere of supportive, crazy amazing women who are out there writing their hearts out and changing the world one word at a time.
Any advice for new writers/authors?
Just start writing. You don’t need to do another workshop, read another blog about how to write. Start writing first and as you learn from doing then if you really want you will know the kinds of workshops or blogs to read. Don’t overwhelm yourself with all this shit before you begin. Write now. Also, you don’t need hours on end to write. You can write a hell of a lot in 10 minutes.
Thanks for speaking from your heart and empowering others, Elizabeth! Keep up the fantastic work!
If you’re feeling stuck, insecure and afraid of your future, grab her free ebook ‘Me, my highest self and I: 20 ways to skyrocket your relationship with yourself’ HERE. It’s guaranteed to provide that mojo injection you’ve been craving. You can also say hello on Facebook HERE.
What lesson(s) did you learn from reading Elizabeth’s interview? Write the lesson down and your thoughts on the topic (i.e., why it spoke to you). If you met Elizabeth, what would you like to tell her. Have any questions for her about her writing process that you’d be curious to ask? One question that came to my mind after reflecting on what Elizabeth said was, “How has writing helped your self-confidence?”
Thank you for reading and your presence at this beach retreat. You Rock! I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts in the comment section below.
See you at the beach!