When Life Gives you Locked Doors, Grab Coffee and Reflect on Your Blessings

Beth Hewitt [: 00:00:00

Good morning, Mel.

Melissa Amos [: 00:00:01

Good morning, Bear. We. We've had to be flexible today because I got lucked out my house and the only place that I could find to sit down that was quiet and dry was the local coffee shop.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:00:15

Oh, it's nice to try new things and see how this goes. Interestingly, while you were locked out your house, my. My wardrobe decided to come off its runners. So I've just fixed that in the five minutes while you've been trying to find your coffee house. This is.

Melissa Amos [: 00:00:29

This is one of those days. One of those days.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:00:33

So we said we were going to do the book of questions today, so I have retrieved the Book of questions from said wardrobe. So let's spend some time with the book of Questions. Have you got.

Melissa Amos [: 00:00:45

I'm looking forward to it.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:00:47

Have you got a date in mind?

Melissa Amos [: 00:00:48

A date? Yes. 16 May.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:00:57

So it says, what was your favorite day this week? So we haven't quite got to the end of the week yet, but what has been your favorite day this week so far?

Melissa Amos [: 00:01:06

My favorite day this week maybe for the last seven days. Let's go there. Yesterday was a lovely day because yesterday we recorded together, didn't we? And then I went to yoga and it was a delicious slow flow, stretchy, lovely. And then I went for a healing slash reflexology with this incredible woman who I've been seeing for a long time. And then I went to bed at 9:00.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:01:33

Nice, fulfilling day.

Melissa Amos [: 00:01:35

What day is it made for? Was it my favorite day? I loved it. I think my favorite day was actually Saturday because I'd just come home from Bulgaria, away from my family, and I got to see them all.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:01:50

You've had a good week so far.

Melissa Amos [: 00:01:51

I've had a good week. I know. And today is a good day. So, Beth, I'm now you. Maybe you inspired this from a little sound nugget in my head, but I was like, now I'm on a mission. Yeah, I feel there's a mission. And I was. I put on my stories today, every day.

Melissa Amos [: 00:02:17

What am I doing that's helping me towards my mission?

Beth Hewitt [: 00:02:21

Yeah.

Melissa Amos [: 00:02:22

And today I'm sitting, having coffee. Well, they're recording a podcast, so it's nice.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:02:30

Well, I just love the. Like, when you are on a mission, you'll make whatever resources or obstacles or challenges that come in your path fit the scenario. And I think today we found a solution to record the podcast. It's not in our usual place, so these things happen. And I think that we're not being deterred from the past. We're Gonna. We're gonna do it regardless. We are, yeah.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:02:53

So my favorite day this week, it was my birthday on Monday, so I can't really say that it wasn't my birthday. So Monday I did a little tiny bit of work, but Leah came home from university. I had family come round all day, like in the morning my mum and then my auntie, and then in the evening my in laws came round. So that was a really nice of being able to receive nice gifts and just. I'm not about being the center of attention, but it's nice to have a nice birthday and to celebrate it. So that was good. So I think. Yeah, I think Monday was probably my best day this week.

Melissa Amos [: 00:03:30

Lovely.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:03:31

Yeah.

Melissa Amos [: 00:03:32

And then the question then alights to how does it get any better than this?

Beth Hewitt [: 00:03:36

How does it. Yeah, I think just doing more of the things that we love, finding the space and following our path. Yeah.

Melissa Amos [: 00:03:46

And drinking coffee. And that's my new catchphrase is when life gives you locked doors, go get coffee.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:03:54

I like that.

Melissa Amos [: 00:03:55

It's even more of a bonus because I had a free coffee on my app. I am like winning at life today.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:04:00

Side note, yesterday, my daughter, she had a dentist appointment yesterday and the traffic was horrendous yesterday. And so it wasn't a good day yesterday in terms of being in flow and stuff. I was feeling very stuck in traffic, but my daughter ordered a McDonald's because she was like, I need to get to the dentist by this time, so I'm going to get some McDonald's. On the way up to the dentist, she ordered it from the app, trying to be efficient and they actually sent the order to the McDonald's. She was walking past and not the one she wanted to collect it from. So that was a slight. That's one of those detour moments when you're like, you try to be efficient, but life just goes back.

Melissa Amos [: 00:04:36

The same thing happened to me yesterday. The exact one, not the exact same. Right. So yesterday, when I was on my way from my amazing day, I was driving to yoga and there's two different ways I could go.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:04:48

Yeah.

Melissa Amos [: 00:04:48

And yesterday I was like, I'm going to go the other way because I know that there's some road works going on. And I went the other way. And I was stuck for literally to go to the gym is eight minutes in my car. It took me 25 minutes. And it was because I decided to be efficient and to go the other way, which is slightly shorter, but usually is a bit more faffy. And. Yeah. And it took me double the time.

Melissa Amos [: 00:05:15

So I had to walk in and it was. But I love my yoga teacher and she's always late. And it was like the first day ever in my life that she was there before me. And I was like, oh, why are we so early today? But they hadn't started. They were just still lying down when I got in there. But the walk of shame, walking into yoga late.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:05:38

I wonder what that's all about. We're physically stopped in our tracks. So we tried to do the efficient thing and it backfires on us in a little way. Another story. And then we'll do one more question and then. I know you, you've got to dash this. Maybe we'll do a part three of the Book of questions. My daughter has had some dental work done.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:05:55

She's. She was in accident a long time ago and we've been to the dentist lots and lots of times and we're getting right to the end of her treatment after, like almost 10 years. And one of those is to fit a new bridge. So she'd had this bridge made. We'd gone back a number of times, they'd fixed it, changed it, it was ready to be fixed permanently. And when we went back, they had lost the bridge. Had physically lost the bridge. So we were like, what's this all about? So I'd said, why don't you look? I said, because I was like, I can.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:06:25

I feel like it's in a box somewhere. They were like, looking at me like, what is this, Mad woman? I was like, I can feel like it's in a box somewhere in the dark, but I think it's probably in the box of your last patient of the day when you saw us last time. I think that's where it is. And they were like, we've checked on the. So we went back in yesterday. They had to make a brand new one because they thought they'd lost it. We went back in. Were you the lady who said to look in the box with the last patient of the day? I said, yeah, that were me.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:06:52

That's where it was. I was like, I could feel that's where it was. But now she'd got two. And the one that they've remade is so much better. Like, it fits better, it looks better aesthetic and everything. So again, it's. It was a detour. It was a bit of annoyance at the time because she wanted it to be fixed, but now she's got this really nice bridge.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:07:10

So that's just another side note. Have we got time for one more question?

Melissa Amos [: 00:07:14

Yeah. My husband has not rung me yet to say he's on his way.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:07:18

So the. The podcast recording may get interrupted by the interruption of Mel's husband. Okay, what number would you like to go for? Question.

Melissa Amos [: 00:07:27

Why do you pick a number?

Beth Hewitt [: 00:07:28

Okay, I'm going to pick 22. And I'm going to go for June. That's my mummy's birthday as well. What's. Oh, I can't remember the answer to this. What's the last movie you saw at the theater?

Melissa Amos [: 00:07:41

I know that. I know the answer to this. I don't go very often. I saw Beetlejuice.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:07:46

Oh, yes. Still need to see that with my.

Melissa Amos [: 00:07:49

12 year old who hasn't seen Beetlejuice. But he was like, yeah, I'll come. And I'm like, okay. And he sat there with a face like, what is this trash? And I was just like happy the whole way through because I enjoyed it. I think he was like. I said, do you want to now watch Beetlejuice? He's like, no, Mom.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:08:12

It's like my, my mother in law was trying to get my daughter to watch Mary Poppins, like the first one for years and years, like she was having none of it. And I think it's a really big disappointment, like when you want to share the love of a classic. But she wasn't having any. Any of it. The last movie that I saw at the theater was actually Despicable, the new Despicable Me. I can't remember what number it is. Is it four?

Melissa Amos [: 00:08:31

Yeah, four.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:08:32

I saw that with my niece back in. Was it August Time? I think that was quite good. I quite enjoyed that one. But yeah, it was good.

Melissa Amos [: 00:08:42

My kids wanted to see it and I took them to see something else instead. Is that when I took them to see Harold in the Purple Crayon, which Beth was like the best kids film I've ever seen in my life.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:08:56

Did the kids like it?

Melissa Amos [: 00:08:57

So. But they loved it. It was so good. You would love it because it's all about scripting, really. So it looks like what we do is we go and see kids films. Although I go and see. It ends with us.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:09:13

Esme, who I took to see Despicable Me, was reading that. Those books, which I don't know how age appropriate they are, but she's 13. Hey. I was going to say something else. So I have been known to go to the cinema on my birthday on my own.

Melissa Amos [: 00:09:27

Yeah.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:09:29

I went to see this is a Kids. There's no denying. This is a Kids one. I went to see Christopher Robin.

Melissa Amos [: 00:09:37

Yeah, but it's a kids one. But it's a nostalgia one, isn't it?

Beth Hewitt [: 00:09:42

I had a big box of popcorn and then I think I met somebody for a glass of wine, like, afterwards. And then it didn't like the wine and the popcorn just disagreed with me. That. That wasn't good. That was a good. Wasn't a good end to the birthday, but it was nice. I think if you feel like you want to ever go to the cinema on your own, then you should, I think so.

Melissa Amos [: 00:10:02

It's. It's actually one of those places that you can go and not look like the awkward weirdo.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:10:08

Yeah.

Melissa Amos [: 00:10:09

I don't know if you're an adult going to see a kids film when you're.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:10:12

I think I was probably. I think I was like the only person in there. It was like 10am on a Tuesday or something.

Melissa Amos [: 00:10:18

Is there anything out now you want to see?

Beth Hewitt [: 00:10:21

I don't know what's out there.

Melissa Amos [: 00:10:23

I don't know either.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:10:25

Possibly. Yes. I have no idea what's on.

Melissa Amos [: 00:10:27

Surely all the Halloween films come out now.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:10:29

Yes. My. My daughter's a big. Halloweeny.

Melissa Amos [: 00:10:32

Yeah.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:10:33

In fact, we were talking yesterday because she's doing set design for film and TV and stage. She's thinking about specializing in kind of gothic horror and Halloween, which I think is quite nice. Yeah. Cool. Wouldn't it?

Melissa Amos [: 00:10:45

You know what's coming out is Wicked. Yes. The wizard of Oz. I've seen the show in the theater years ago, and it was great. So I think I'm gonna have to go and see that because. So somebody said to me last week, they're like, I think you're like, Glenda, the Goodies Witch of the East. And I'm like, she's, like, a bit misunderstood and doing all things for the good. And I was like, if you've seen Wicked, Clenza's not very nice.

Melissa Amos [: 00:11:17

I was like, maybe I'm more like the Wicked Witch of the West. If you've seen. If you've seen Wicked, she's the good one.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:11:26

Yeah. That's actually one I'd quite like to go see. I'll put on the list, I think.

Melissa Amos [: 00:11:32

And it's a musical.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:11:33

Yeah.

Melissa Amos [: 00:11:34

Which you either love or hate.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:11:35

Yeah. I'm in between her. My daughter loves them, but I will go see them.

Melissa Amos [: 00:11:38

I love a good sound. I do.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:11:41

Yeah.

Melissa Amos [: 00:11:41

I'm very annoying because I sing it if I know it. Like, when I went to see Matilda, I was singing along, much to my children's delight. The little ones were like, yeah, Mom.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:11:53

Oh, God, it's a great musical, though.

Melissa Amos [: 00:11:57

One more. Go on, one more. Let's try it.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:12:01

Go for it.

Melissa Amos [: 00:12:02

9Th November.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:12:06

We could answer this in many different ways. Did you leave work on time? That's quite deep and profound, I think, because I can't answer that in a sensible way.

Melissa Amos [: 00:12:15

Did I leave work on time today? I'm going to be late. Did I leave work on time? Yeah. So my. Yes. So my story with my work was I probably said 6,018 times, I'm going to leave. And then one day, three weeks after my Reiki training, I said it for the final time and actually left. And actually I took another job, which I was at for months before I left on maternity leave. And here in the uk we get like a great maternity leave deal, right?

Beth Hewitt [: 00:12:55

Yeah.

Melissa Amos [: 00:12:55

We have 12 months off. Half. About half of it, I think, is paid. Not fully, but you still get an income.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:13:02

Yeah.

Melissa Amos [: 00:13:03

Holiday and your pensions and whatever else you like. The other benefits are all still there. So I had all of that and then I went back and then I left. And there's a longer story to that, but that's essentially what it was. So it was actually perfect timing. Now I could look back and think, I could have left five years earlier, I could have done this. I could have started on this path sooner. But the more I'm looking at my mission and I see how my old work life was so intrinsic to what I'm doing now, even though it doesn't look like it is.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:13:39

Yeah.

Melissa Amos [: 00:13:40

Then, yes, I left at the perfect time. The people I met, the skills I had, the money I made, the opportunities they came by, who knows where I'd have been had? I have made other decisions.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:13:52

Yeah. My story is very similar and I think maybe we should do an episode on leaning into our intuition and guidance around when it's. If you've got something that you wanted to bring forth into the world, when is the right time? Or just. I think just talking out loud about people's experiences of taking a leap of faith is quite an interesting thing. And my story is so long and winding that it would be impossible to answer right now. Oh, you're moving. Do you need to.

Melissa Amos [: 00:14:17

I'm moving. No, I'm moving because there's. I know you can't hear it, but there's. The dump truck is.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:14:22

You can hear it doing.

Melissa Amos [: 00:14:24

It's dumping and it's very loud. So.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:14:28

Okay.

Melissa Amos [: 00:14:28

I am just. So I can't hover in.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:14:30

You're hovering with hovering.

Melissa Amos [: 00:14:32

Yeah.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:14:32

Okay.

Melissa Amos [: 00:14:33

Yeah.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:14:33

So a very similar story to yours in that When I finally left kind of the corporate world for the first time, it had been after maybe six, seven, even eight years of like constantly telling myself, I want to do something different, I don't want to do this anymore. Spiraling into difficult situations and depression and all kinds of different things. And I think had I left right at the beginning of those feelings, then I wouldn't have amassed the skills and experienced that like you just mentioned. And also what I went on to do next would have not have been lined up either. So when I finally left, I went into another position, but it was doing what I loved. It was managing business support programs, it was working with business, it was using all my digital marketing and skills and things that I'd built up over that period of time. So yes, it was absolutely the right time to leave. Would there have been massive benefit had I left much sooner? I'm sure they would.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:15:29

I was, I'm sure I would have found my path to, to where I am right now. But as difficult as it was at the time, having to go through that period of time where it was all down to me, to when I left, when I. Yeah. But it was until I was. As we say, the universe nudges us or makes the path appear rather than waiting for us to take that leap. That's what happened. And like you, I got freelance work and part time work and did all the things to bridge that, that gap from where I was to where I wanted to go. But yeah, I do feel like I left work at the right time because it was definitely, it was a more defined next path and I'm not sure it would have been defined if I'd have left it maybe six, seven, eight years prior.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:16:19

It made more sense. Everything seemed a lot more aligned when I finally made that. Yeah. Yeah.

Melissa Amos [: 00:16:25

Amazing. So yeah, is fascinating how life does seem to work out for us if we allow it. And even those times where we think it's not, then often it is. Which is maybe another conversation for another time. But it is this question of does my choice matter if everything is always working out in divine timing, Is there something that I can manipulate and change? It's. Does it matter what choices I make? Like all of these things. Which I do believe that it does matter what choices we make. But I also believe it's like a sat nav.

Melissa Amos [: 00:17:04

Yeah. Where we're always going to keep getting directed.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:17:08

Yeah.

Melissa Amos [: 00:17:09

Where it is that we want to be or need to be. And it's when we are fully in that flow, when we are on that mission and we're like, yes, my mission is here and I've accepted it. And the universe goes yay. Finally. Then the opportunities come, and then the more we take them by the horn, the more we are in flow. And then when there is traffic or stumbling blocks or whatever along the way, we're less resistant to it because we can trust that it's all working out in our favor.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:17:40

Yeah, I think it's a nice message to end on.

Melissa Amos [: 00:17:45

Yes. And I'm now very much trusting that my husband will be here. I've got seven minutes to get home, get in my studio, get my computer on, do the zoom link, and maybe even go to the loo if I'm lucky. And he's about five minutes away.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:18:06

Come on, Mr. Husband.

Melissa Amos [: 00:18:07

Come on, Mark. You can do it. Yeah, I'm just. I'm hovering. So it's worked out well.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:18:13

My life.

Melissa Amos [: 00:18:13

Two locked doors, drink coffee and record podcasts.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:18:16

Yeah, absolutely. You're inspiring. I'm just thinking whether we could go for walks at the same time and how that would work. I'm sure we could.

Melissa Amos [: 00:18:22

We could. I love walking. I do. And this morning I was actually. It's a really nice day, so we're recording this mid October, and usually it's a bit. It can get a bit dark. It's like that last of the possible sunshine. And it's beautiful.

Melissa Amos [: 00:18:38

It's 20 degrees, probably sunny, gorgeous. And I was like, oh, today would have been a really nice day to go for a walk, but I have a really busy morning and I said that I'd get home early for you and all of this stuff. Here I am. I've probably walked two miles today. I've had a coffee outside in a coffee shop, recorded a podcast, standing outside a church outside a sacred space, waiting for my husband before a reading with Tony Stockwell. Yeah, maybe today is going to be my favorite day.

Beth Hewitt [: 00:19:05

Maybe it is. Enjoy the rest of your day.

Melissa Amos [: 00:19:08

I will. You too. And if you're listening, then I hope today is your favorite day so far.