Hayley Solich

When I was Editing Pearls Women’s Magazine in 2007, I had the privilege of interviewing a 72 year old woman who had more energy than most people half her age.

Claire Green, a Balcatta WA mother, grandmother and even great grandmother, is an inspiration to all who know her.

Imagine…an army of grey haired warriors sewing, cooking, running stalls for 9 months of the year, then their fearless leader packing her bags and taking the spoils to a leper colony in Thailand.

You have to read this story to understand the amazing impact one life can have a on a whole community of people.
Click the link to download the Claire Green story.

When my mother was killed whilst I was studying, I found a lot of healing through writing.  I was not always writing about my feelings or about my mother, but I found the pain of her passing inspired me to create pieces that were full of empathy and love.

Beyond Winter was written after I watched a movie about a woman with breast cancer.  It has nothing to do with the story line of the movie I watched…in fact, the only correlation I can see between the two pieces is my understanding of the inner process of the woman.

This piece has been published in Pearls Women’s Magazine in 2007 and received an online Award for Best Short Story in 2006.

Click link to view.   Beyond Winter

In 2002 I went through an horrendous season in my life following the birth of my son.

This article, Out of the Blues,  was featured in Pearls Women’s Magazine published in 2007 in Perth, Western Australia.  It is my story of how I overcame post natal depression.

Download now by clicking here Out of the Blues. PDF 504kb

I often ponder about life…it just seems to whizz past.  The Golden Days was written as a reflection about growing older as I was working through some grief I felt for the loss of my youth.

I remember when Passion rushed through my blood

When every second was spent

In youthful exhibition of my creative flow

Why did those days have to go?

I remember when I could not be contained

I was the spark starting the raging fire

The glitter in the diamond

The glow in the lamp

Why did my style life cramp?

I remember when there were no boundaries

No limits upon my thinking

I could leave in a minute’s notice

Extending into an horizon so expansive

Why did life become so expensive?

I remember

But I wonder if it is only with the glazed eyes of age

Muting the pain, the hurt and the shame

And playing a movie so surreal

Of the Golden Days

That my mind deceivingly now plays?

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

One of the feature articles I wrote for the most recent edition of Finally at 40 Magazine covered Kath Mazzella OAM‘s story.

Kath is a Perth-based Gynae and Sexual Health Awareness advocate who is herself a Gynae cancer survivor.

To read her story click on the images from left to right.

Special thanks to the crew at Finally at 40 for allowing me to publish the story on my website.

To subscribe to Finally at 40, visit their website now.  It’s a great magazine and very inspirational.

When I was in High School I thought I was the biggest loser because I just felt so rejected.  Truth is, I was mostly rejected by myself because I suffered from “comparison syndrome”.

Looking back I can see that I was definitely an individual personality, with a very gregarious nature.  Most of the teachers seemed to like me, although I did have some social problems due to over-utilised and yet under-developed leadership skills (another way to say I was a bit bossy)! However, I did make a significant wave in the school with my ideas.  For example, when I was in Year 10 I refused to wear the more casual school uniform that had been adopted.  We were allowed to wear corduroy pants or slacks and a white shirt and school jumper, however I just had to be different.  I went to the local op shop and purchased the old box pleat school uniform including tunic, tie and blazer and started to wear that with tights just to be different.  Well you know what happened?  Within a very short time the whole school was copying me.  And this showed me a very clear principle of life – if you are willing to stand out, eventually you will be emulated, because like sheep people will follow the strongest lead.

So I guess my challenge to you is, do you want to be a world changer?  If so, start leading where you are!  Do something that you’d like others to emulate.

I had lots of friends, but I chose to spend my time in endless activity to numb my internal struggle.  I was the captain of the softball team, the secretary of the student council, on the debate team, the lead or support actress for the school musicals.  I was selected to represent the school in various activities, including a state-wide production of Pirates of Penzance in Sydney and performed at the Opera House.   I competed in Eistedfods and often won prizes.  I also won the Miss Schoolgirl of the local show –  yet, with all this success, I still felt rejected.

It wasn’t til many years later when I was working at the college that I later studied dance at that I learned from one of the girls  who enroled who I had gone to school with that she viewed me as her hero.  I had no idea that I was making any significant impact on anyone around me, yet here was the girl that played piano while I sang all those years ago saying that to me.  It was immensely humbling.

If you have been following me on Twitter you will know that my username is @womencan.  I deliberately chose this name because it contains within it a positive message for all women.  I have deliberately created the “You Can Philosophy” because I want people worldwide to be empowered.  These were all conscious decisions on my part and you can consciously choose to make your life a positive imprint as well.

Tonight I went to a party and an old friend came up to me and said, “You are so inspirational. Keep posting your positive messages cause you are my positivity guru.  I read all your stuff and it really lifts me.”  I was flabbergasted.  Firstly because I just do what I do because it’s part of me and just has to find a way out, and secondly because I realised, once again, that people watch and follow a strong lead.  You just never know who you are leading.  Like the saying says, “Lead, follor or get out of the way!”

You can be one of the followers or one of the leaders. There is no shame in either, but if you decide to lead, make sure you are leading people towards something beneficial.  Lead them in the same way that you would want to be lead.

Have a think about what small or large thing you could do today to start a positive wave of action around the globe.  If I can, anyone can!

In my life there have been many things that I have done, often at my own expense, that when questioned by others I have just had to say, “I don’t know why, I just know I need to do this.”

The beauty is that further along the pathway it becomes completely evident to me why I needed to do them as they were the stepping stones in the pathway that has led me to be the person that I am today, doing the things that I am doing.

What this has taught me is to value every experience, sucking the marrow out of life and being grateful for the many wonderful opportunities that have graced my life.

I just wanted to encourage you that sometimes what on the surface looks like it has nothing to offer you in the way of tangible benefits, yet you feel drawn to the opportunity, that it may have hidden treasure and that those around you may question you and you may not have an answer to give them immmediately.

If I stopped writing back when the first person questioned my ability or my use of my time I would never be feature writing for a national magazine now. And if I had questioned writing for that magazine for no payment immediately, I would never have gotten the opportunity to get my name known in the writing world. And if I had never started the Pearls Women’s Magazine project, I would never have gotten my foot in the door at the National Women’s Magazine. And if I’d listened to those that were questioning the value of giving my time to develop Pearls, all those people who read the magazine and their lives were changed in some positive way would never have happened.

Sometimes risks are essential if we want to find the hidden treasure.

I think you get my picture. You just never know when what you are doing has a positive spin off for others or for your own destiny, even if it is painful and a negative experience at the time.

There is a verse in the Bible that I love and brings me comfort. It says, “All things work together for the good…”

You may not understand which thread you are sewing with at this time in your life, but you are creating a rich tapestry and one day you will get to see it from the top side down, not just the underside up. Keep sewing!

Sometimes we allow invisible barriers to hold us back.

I know when I was working as a public servant for the Western Australian government I had a huge hang up about the fact that I didn’t possess any formal qualifications.  I had a Diploma of Dance, which meant nothing other than that I was capable of hard work, self-discipline, very creative and able to stick out a 2 year full-time program.  I saw my lack of “business” qualifications as a reason why I couldn’t apply for some jobs or be considered worthy of doing them.

Fortunately for me I also had an internal driver that just kept pushing me to volunteer for projects and go the extra mile to get the job done on time and effectively.  Coupled with an amazing boss at the WA Police, I was given tremendous opportunities and was able to shine in these roles.

There is something completely liberating about stepping out of the boat, crossing over that invisible barrier, to embrace a vision.

In 2005, in the company of two amazing women, I co-founded Pearls Women’s Magazine.  We were three mums with 11 children between us.  We had little capital to invest – in fact, I had NO capital to invest.  With four children, living in the granny flat at my in-laws (and that’s a whole separate post!), I couldn’t even afford to purchase the programs we needed so that I could work from home.

However, we made a commitment to make it happen, to step across the invisible barrier that says, “You can’t, you’re not qualified, you’re going to fail” to embrace the realm of possibility.

Dr Jim Rohn puts it like this, “Why not you? Why not now? Why do good things have to happen to other people?”

The extraordinary thing is that we achieved our dream of getting that magazine to the market place and the response was overwhelming.  If we hadn’t even sold a single copy (and we distributed approx 5,000 copies of the first edition), then the fact that we created a professional standard 116 page full colour gloss magazine literally had people’s jaws dropping.  After all, we were just three mums and none of us prior to the project had worked in media, knew how to use Adobe Indesign, had ever interviewed a person in our lives!

Suffice to say, this was a defining moment for me.  I resigned from the Team after the first edition due to family pressures but I learned so much through this experience about myself and about life.  I learned that you can if you want to and you’re willing to pay the price for your dreams.  I learned that teams go through a process – Forming, Storming, Norming, then Performing.  I learned that I can pick up any computer program within a quick amount of time if I apply myself and am willing to go through a process of experiential learning.  I learned that women are fascinating, amazing, incredibly resourceful creatures with so many often overlooked and unheard inspirational stories to share.

Out of that experience the vision for Women Can International Inc was birthed and out of Women Can International Inc, Women Can TV is finding it’s wings.

We know where we are headed and we want to take as many as possible along with us on the journey.  The question is, “You can, but will you join us by making the decision to cross over whatever invisible line there is in your life that is holding you back from getting to where you want to go?”

If you’d like to know more about our coaching services, fill out our contact form today.  As June’s husband (my life coach) would say, “When now would you like to take that step?”