Meet Jessica Zemple

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jessica Zemple. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jessica below.

Jessica, we are so appreciative of you taking the time to open up about the extremely important, albeit personal, topic of mental health. Can you talk to us about your journey and how you were able to overcome the challenges related to mental issues? For readers, please note this is not medical advice, we are not doctors, you should always consult professionals for advice and that this is merely one person sharing their story and experience.
Mental health is something I deal with every day of my life, but not in the way you might think.

My father is diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic which manifested in sheer anger and an explosive environment as a child. When my mother finally broke us free of the violence, he stalked me until I finally moved out of the state for safety. I reconnected with him after 25 years of no communication. We now have a loving relationship with healthy boundaries.

Dealing with schizophrenia has shaped so much of my life…

I spent much of my life hiding for safety and had to learn how to come out of my shell to shine. Ironically, I now speak on stages!

I am relatively fearless when it comes to life. Having feared my own father at times, it makes many other things seem relatively inconsequential. I have started businesses, traveled the world solo, and so much more.

Learning to navigate life with him also created deep empathy. I can now tune in to people’s feelings which helps in all aspects of life.

Another big way it has affected my life is learning forgiveness. To forgive, I had to come to a place of acceptance. This was powerful because I saw beyond the mental illness and truly saw him. The schizophrenia is something he is experiencing. It does not define him.

This is also why I do what I do now as a transformational life coach. I have lived a gritty life and turned it into a big sparkly pearl. I want others to know they can shine too!!!

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

Shucking is my metaphor for life coaching – and life. We are all magnificent pearls created through the grit of our life. We have shells around our pearls that we close in times of fear. At some point, the shell becomes restricting and needs to be shucked open, with love, so your pearl can shine!

I have overcome A LOT of grit in my life from growing up in an abusive home due to a parent with schizophrenia, helicoptered off of the mountains of Nepal due to brain trauma, and caring 24/7 for my former partner through a healing journey with stage 4 cancer. Each of these challenging, life changing experiences has made me stronger, more compassionate, more loving, and helped my pearl sparkle even more.

This is what I want to do for YOU – help transform your grit in to a pearl and shine even more. I will teach you life skills through my 1:1 coaching and workshops that you can apply to your life immediately and live the life of your dreams!

You can go to my website (www.lifeshucker.com) to learn how you can shine your pearl through 1:1 coaching and get on the waitlist for my upcoming program, The Good Shucking Life, coming later in 2023.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
There are so many things I can attribute to living the life of my dreams. A few of them are…

ONE: You MUST be committed to yourself and your dreams. There are so many reasons people don’t. Some of the most common I see are:
1) Perpetual state of busyness – It is easy to get busy and start living life by default rather than design. Slow down to tune in to what your dreams truly are and only take action that aligns with your heart.
2) Lack of self worth- many people feel they are unworthy of living The Good Shucking Life. This is nonsense! If not you, then who?
3) Afraid of failure – Wouldn’t you rather fail at something you love doing than anything else? What is failure anyway?

TWO: Do one small thing a day. In a year, you will have done 365 things in the direction of your dreams. Can you imagine how far you can get with 365 actions? Can you imagine how much momentum is built with all that energy? There is a saying that in a year from now, you will have wished you started today. Start TODAY and let me know where you are in a year from now.

THREE: Focus on service. I always ask – where can I be of service today? You were given unique gifts that only you can share with the world. It is your responsibility to use them. When you shine your pearl in the world, it will make the whole world brighter!!!

What’s been one of your main areas of growth this year?
In the last 12 months, I have stretched myself in numerous ways. My healing and growth is one of my top priorities. Plus, it is integral in the work I do. I need to be stretching myself if I am asking my clients to do the same. I live what I teach.

One way I did, was an eight day self-guided silent retreat and fast. That’s right – eight days of being completely disconnected from the world. I thought my coach was crazy when she first suggested it. (Yes, I believe I should have a coach too). It took me over a year to build up the strength and courage to disengage from the world for eight days in the ways that I was familiar with.

I am sooooo grateful I did. The rewards are endless. Some of the benefits I gained include seeing where I take on other people’s responsibilities, how little I truly need to enjoy life, letting time disappear so I could watch the sun rise and set for hours, and feeling closer to myself and Spirit.

I will be posting a video on my YouTube channel (Jessica Zemple) with all the details if you want to learn more.

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