We recently connected with Rachel Dick and have shared our conversation below.
Rachel, we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?
I used to hear the words – “You are so confident!” and my stomach would sink.
“They’re going to find me out.” I’d think. “They’re going to discover that it’s all an act.”
As a small child, I was painfully shy. Over time, I managed to push through my shyness and speak up wherever I could.
But my internal experience betrayed my external experience of being confident. Despite appearing confident, I did not feel that way inside.
Learning to feel as confident as I appear has been a journey.
I recently gave a speech at my local Toastmasters (public speaking club). I’ve given many speeches there, but this one felt different. As I was standing at the front of the room and I was waiting for one of the members to set up the video equipment before I could begin, I noticed something strange.
I wasn’t nervous. My hands were not shaking. There was no pit in my stomach. I felt comfortable, at ease, excited even to share my speech with the group.
“Well isn’t that interesting?” I thought to myself.
Aligning my inner experience with my external one of being a confident person has taken work. It happened because I stretched myself out of my comfort zone over and over and over again. I think back to when I was a new nurse. Routine tasks for an experienced nurse like passing medication or giving an injection would bring up all sorts of sensations in my body. But after tackling those difficult tasks over and over again, they became second nature. The nerves eventually melted away.
I’ve always wanted to share my message, to use my voice, to inspire people. But for a very long time it was only a dream. That all changed when I discovered the concept of “messy action.” I stepped away from bedside nursing and into something less traditional. A holistic coaching practice of my own where I could use my nursing background and knowledge to help people heal in a natural way.
This was uncharted territory. I had to create the maps as I moved through this new landscape. A coach of mine told me over and over to take messy action. To let go of perfection. To do things that stretched me, that felt uncomfortable, but would push my boundaries and ultimately create the life I was trying to create.
This is the number one thing that has created confidence in my life and my business.
The myth is that we need confidence to do hard things, but the truth is that we need to do hard things to build confidence.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I am a coach with a mission to help you unlock the story inside of you. I am dedicated to helping people heal through the power of storytelling. I provide tools and support around finding your true voice and expressing yourself authentically.
I believe that storytelling is medicine. It is a way to take ownership of things that have happened to you, and create a narrative of your life that is empowering and authentic.
I help you release judgment, unleash your inner voice, take up space, speak your truth in the moment.
I help you heal from your past, create confidence in your life, and express yourself authentically.
My own story is one of finding my voice. I felt silenced in so many different situations. It took me a long time to realize that I was internalizing the voices around me and living from a place of fear and people pleasing instead of from a place of confidence and taking up space.
As a registered nurse, I often felt silenced and unable to speak my truth.
As a woman growing up in an ultra-religious environment, I often felt silenced and unseen.
As a grandchild of Holocaust survivors, I had to go on a journey to figure out how to process this trauma that was handed down to me.
In my coaching practice, I have developed a group coaching program called Heal the Write Way. This is a 16 week course designed to help you live authentically and master your story. My next program launches March 26, 2024.
I also work one on one with clients who are looking to tackle a big creative project, whether that is a book, a podcast, or marketing themselves in their business in an engaging way.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
The first piece of advice is to embrace messy action. When I started my entrepreneurial journey, so many fears would come up around things being perfect. What if I messed up on social media and someone discovered the real me? What if I made a mistake while coaching a client and they would see me in a bad light? What if I launched a program and nobody signed up?
I had to learn to let all of that go to be successful. If you are coming from a place of service, people will see that. They are not going to fixate on the things that aren’t perfect in your business the way that you are. The first flyer I put out for my group coaching program had the wrong times on it. I was inspired, and threw the flyer together, and missed that small mistake. I could have beat myself up about it, but instead I chose to celebrate that I had done something hard, that I had put myself out there, and I had let go of the illusion of perfection.
The second piece of advice I would give is to continuously remind yourself that YOU ARE ENOUGH. Starting a business is hard. Putting yourself out there is hard. Doing new things is hard. Remember that you are enough no matter what. Even if you mess up, even if you fail, even if things don’t go according to plan, you have innate value.
The final piece of advice I would give is to remember to have fun! Creating a life by design and going against the grain is HARD WORK. But if we only focus on the end product and forget to enjoy the process, we are going to quit before we get anywhere. So take breaks, have fun, nurture your inner artist, and embrace creativity!
As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?
I absolutely love reading and it is so hard for me to pick just one book that has impacted my life. But the most recent book I have read that stands out to me is The Surrender Experiment by Michael Singer.
This book really helped me recently when I did something out of my comfort zone and things DID NOT GO ACCORDING TO PLAN.
I recently ran my first retreat with three other coaches.
We booked the most exquisite venue for our retreat. This was a stunning mansion nestled in the mountains of Southern California, boasting an infinity pool, a meditation room, and beautiful grounds to explore, relax, and retreat.
We just knew this was going to be the most epic experience of all time.
We planned and planned and planned. Prepped our workshops, organized food, and goodie bags, put our finishing touches on all the details to make this the most memorable experience for our incredible guests.
The retreat was slated to start on a Tuesday evening. We planned to show up at the property at 10am to get everything ready for our guests.
At 4pm on Monday evening, I get a call from the property management company. “Hey Rachel! Sooooooo, something has come up. A sewage pipe burst, there’s sewage coming out of the showers, the house you booked isn’t going to be ready for tomorrow. I’m so sorry.”
My heart sank into my stomach. I swallowed a golf ball in my throat.
I was listening to Michael Singer’s audiobook at the time, The Surrender Experiment. The timing couldn’t be more perfect. Michael’s voice appeared in my mind. “Just surrender. Allow. Go with the flow. Let go.”
I took a huge deep breath. “We will figure this out,” I said to myself.
The management company offered us three other homes to host our retreat at. My fellow hosts and I put our heads together and decided on the home we thought would be best.
Sigh of relief.
We got this. Look at our amazing teamwork! My surrender experiment worked!
Tuesday morning arrives, we all load up our respective cars and head out to our new property. “This is going to be great. It’s all working out for us. We just need to trust the process.” My thoughts were upbeat and encouraging. I was so excited for our guests to arrive and to give them the most incredible experience.
Well.
We arrived at the property at 11am. Unfortunately, it was nothing like the pictures that had been sent to us. While the inside of the house was beautiful, the outside was unusable. The pool was green. The patio furniture looked like it needed to be burned. There were rat droppings, peeling paint, an overgrown lawn.
The four of us sat under a giant sun window inside the house overlooking the mountains. We turned to each other – “What the heck are we going to do? This place is unusable. We cannot host a retreat here! Our guests are arriving in three hours. We have cars full of food waiting to be unloaded and prepped. HELP!”
Michael Singer’s voice came to mind again. “Breathe. Relax. Surrender. This is happening for you. TRUST THE PLAN.”
OK. I need to trust. Message received.
We acted fast. We took control of what was in our power. We called the management company and asked them to immediately relocate us to one of the other properties they had offered the previous day. Thankfully one was still available.
We were told that we needed to take the property sight unseen, and that the cleaning crew would not be done prepping the property until 4pm.
Surrender. Trust.
“We’ll take it.” We told the woman on the phone.
We drove 20 minutes up the hill to our new location, holding our breath the entire time, hoping the pictures of this place were not a lie as they were for the previous location. We texted all our guests to let them know there had been a change of plans, AGAIN.
Breathe. Trust. Surrender.
I was the first to arrive at our new location. I got out of my car and felt all the stress in my body melt away.
THIS HOME WAS PERFECT.
The views were otherworldly. The infinity pool and hot tub were sparkling. The house felt light, airy, and open.
It was going to be OK.
We worked quickly. We unloaded our cars and got the home ready in an hour. The cleaning crew was done by 2pm.
We spent ten minutes doing a grounding exercise and breathing before the guests arrived.
We lit a scented candle.
Around 3pm our guests started to arrive. From there on out, the retreat unfolded so beautifully, so naturally. It was the most relaxing experience for everyone there, including the hosts!
The theme of the day was surrender. Letting go. Going with the flow.
My first retreat was an epic success!
And a huge learning lesson for me.
We managed to navigate the challenges that came our way. We kept the experience of our guests as the highest priority the entire time. We pivoted, we surrendered, and let go of the illusion that we have any control at all over how things play out.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.racheldickcoaching.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nursecoachrachel/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RachelDickPlonka
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/racheldick/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ANurseRachel
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@racheldickcoaching4731
- Other: Facebook Group: Nurses Who Write https://www.facebook.com/groups/676574950479886
Image Credits
First photo (colorful shot on the beach) Robert Sturman photographer
