America Here I Come.......
"In the end, we only regret the chances we didn't take!"....I'm taking this chance!
**The audio is a very special part of my writing and particularly this home. If you have never hit play on it, I would really encourage you today…there is so much depth to a person’s voice that no written word will ever match (I feel)…Today’s is emotional (and lots of extra aspects) but I hope it brings you hope, belief and you feel like you can be brave too in this life. Lou xx
Granny is in my heart and she’s also in the stars and the moon of the night sky and the sun as it rises to meet me every morning….So no matter the wobble in my step, the racing of my heart, the increase in my blood pressure, this is all just temporary as the nervousness awakens within me……You know how I love balance right?……So when I speak of this wobble, which is a combination of nervousness in every human but mostly it’s a form of vulnerability, fear and self doubt…..But thankfully I know the emotions that is sitting in the next room to it - it’s excitement, it’s bravery, it’s courage and it’s belief and it’s up to me to which room I choose to enter….It’s up to me which part of my human spirit I choose to lean into…It’s up to me whether I live in doubt for the rest of my life & not try lean into me or if I live with bravery in my heart and give this life my all...I choose the second…it’s taken me my whole life to finally trust in myself. To finally really lean into me. And I feel brave and scared but I feel serenity in my soul that I know I am giving this my best shot and I’m stepping out of my comfort zone and if I don’t do this now, I’ll never do it…So here I come! …I finally am feeling like I might just be able to do this! Today I finally believe that I’m putting all my faith in my dreams and I’m chasing them. I have done the hard work and I have worked from the ground up…..I’ve worked myself from not knowing enough to learning, failing, and then getting back up. For over three years I slept on a fold up bed & never complained. I have been through the trauma of being a full time carer isolated in a pandemic lockdown and I survived. I even made the best of it….I believe it is now my time to live, to love and to laugh and to lean in…. I have moved from the broken hearted to a healing heart. I’ve moved from no purpose to become a self published author. I have cried a lot, I still cry but now I smile more. I have created the mental space in my mind to dream my dream and to go after it. All that can happen from here on out is that I fail, but I am determined not to fail and even if I fail, I know that I’ve tried my best and that is all I can ask of myself. I am determined to work hard. I am determined to not give up. I am determined to give up time to make sure I am ahead of the game. This time is not lost, this time is invested. I am playing the long game. The slow snail wins the race and I believe it. I will have experienced every emotion and mistake of this journey of publishing and touring and stepping out and being brave and I am learning so much from all that. I am determined to be me. I am determined to believe in me. I am determined to take a leap of faith and trust in who I am. I am working towards creating my future rather than waiting for it to be created and I am excited about that. There will always be knocks, loads of them, I expect them at this stage and I think that is a good state of mind to have circling around your inner center of thoughts while not living in that expectation…. There is only one of me and I have only one life so I choose to live it fully especially when I am lucky enough to be healthy to be able to enjoy it….There are so many people right now lying in hospital beds very sick, maybe terminally ill as I say these words….These people do not have the privilege of health and I will never not be grateful for my health. Because it’s all so fragile and can be taken away from any of us in a second. Like the sun in the morning, I look up to it and thank it for giving me another day…Another day that I can see it, I can feel its energy, I can hear the birds sing and I can breathe with my healthy lungs and I can look up and say thank you…There is an awful lot to be grateful for when you are healthy…..
When everyone else was sleeping, I was dreaming. And working. And planning. And thinking. And doubting. And worried. And scared. And pushing towards my goals. Moving one inch at a time towards what I imagined in my mind….It’s those small moves, consistently taken that bring you forward. Today is about me being terrified but I’m choosing to be brave. I am believing in me and I’m believing in my dreams. I want to live my life where I leave not a fibre of my living behind me and I want to follow my dreams….Granny has given me the belief that I can do it and she left me with the legacy of her life story, so it’s up to me to continue creating my own path and shining a bright light of hope outwards….It’s my natural self…It’s who I am….yes I always look for the good. Yes I always try to find the silver lining. Yes I always try to keep looking up and I think the world needs more of that hope….Today I announce my American Tour and here it is:
My new website will be launched in the coming days and I will share it with you when the home of www.loucoghlan.com is there for you to visit and I hope you will stay with me forever. The livingandlaughingwithlou.com home will always be operating too so you have lots of doors to open to find me and I will always be there smiling when I see you!
I hope you might share my tour poster or this post on your social media or with any of your family or friends that you might have on the east coast of the states. Your family is my family and I would love to hug them, drink tea with them and I promise there will be laughter. I would be so grateful if I might to get to meet some of your favourite
A huge thanks to so many people particularly Facebook Family and London' Writers Salon Family who are making this dream happen and so many others
A big thanks to Denise Martin, Catriona Ward, Martha Dalton, Melissa Weidman,
Martina Jones, Eileen McGovern, Pauline Corrigan, Veronica Cassidy Barry, Ursula Heeney, Anita Goin, Kevin & Niall Kenny, Lorraine & Claire Mullally, , , Patricia Lane, Patricia Wallace, my cabin family- you know who you are - Brenda,Beverly…& so many others… Paddy and Dinah Maguire, Fr. Gerard Breen, Laurence and Samantha of VineIreland, Kevin Kenny, Jim Cleary, Donnie & Fran Crosse, Ann from ‘Swing The Teapot’ (NY), Naomi from ‘The Aisling Irish Center’ (NY), Kathy Dolan Lawrence, Colette Lennon, Deirdre Kelly, Amy from ‘The Irish Pastoral Centre’ (Boston), Ann Brannelly, Aoife from ‘The Irish Cultural Centre’ (Boston), Scally’s (Cape Cod), O’Shea’s (Cape Cod), Liam Maguire’s (Cape Cod), The Irish Echo, Will and Sinead from Midlands 103, Celine Garvey, Ryan from the Irish Star (US), David from The Irish World, The Wave Podcasting Community, Eddie Rowley from The Sunday World, and the list goes on and on…..So many of you I owe so much for helping me be brave….and helping me carry myself when I felt scared. This has been a hugely emotional journey and the tears are not over yet but as I said above, the smile always wins out thank god…..
Also I would like to thank all the doors that were closed to me….I can tell you if you want to test your strength from within, there is nothing quite like seven millions no’s or worse still silence …or send us an email………I got sad, I got deflated, I got low, I wanted to give up a million times but against the odds, I never gave up….
A big thanks to my believers in this tour which I will highlight below:
ABBEY GLEN CASTLE HOTEL, CLIFTEN,
CO. GALWAY
www.abbeyglen.ie
MONEA METAL, ENNISKILLEN, CO. FERMANAGH
www.moneametaldesign.com
MCNAMARA'S FEED, CO. MEATH
www.mcnamarafeeds.ie
MOYVALLEY MEATS,
CO. KILDARE
www.moyvalleymeats.ie
BRODERICK'S SPAR, CROOM,
CO. LIMERICK
www.facebook.com/BrodericksSparCroom
'SISTERKIND' &
'ALLIES RETREAT',
CO. FERMANAGH
www.facebook.com/imnutsaboutnutrition
THE IRISH ECHO
www.theirishecho.com
HAMLET COURT HOTEL, CO.KILDARE
www.thehamlet.ie
VINE IRELAND, CO.WESTMEATH
www.vineireland.com
FITZGERALD’S HOUSE HOTEL, CROOM, CO. LIMERICK
www.woodlands-hotel.ie
THE BIGGEST THANK YOU GOES TO ONE PERSON….WELL IT’S KIND OF TWO….. Of course Granny I will forever be thankful for the time we shared and for her trust in me for sharing her light, love and legacy with the world…..BUT the person who I need to THANK most is my mam, Ollie….She is Granny Nancy the second…her generous spirit, her undeniable commitment to find the good in everyone and she never allows someones fault be something she sees…..no instead she chooses to see the good and I love her for it…She would give you the shirt of her back without a second thought and she is my inspiration….She has travelled every step with me and all I’m missing is her coming with me….I’d love to give her an adventure of a lifetime but I know she wants me to step out in this moment on my own to remind myself of what’s inside…..I will miss her terribly, I am not going to hide that. When my sixty three year old dad was dying…. when I got my moment on my own, I promised him I would mind mam and he didn’t need to worry….I told him ‘I will forever stand by mam dad in good times and in bad’ and I promised him ‘that all would be ok and that he could let go’…He was in so much pain. Three months of a cancer journey and in the end my father like Jesus on the cross screaming out in pain. Cancer travelling all over his body - his bones, his lungs, his brain, his liver …everywhere….and no medicine in the world could take his pain away. Because he didn’t want to die. He like me, believed in mindset and I know he used his mind to hold on….See he didn’t want to leave us. And I loved him for that but I had to let him go and I know my promise helped him let go….See it’s the tough times that make you see the good from there on out and you realise nothing else matters only the people we love and that they are healthy….Everthing is just stuff!! Now i’ve taken my breaks and holidays over the years but I’ve never left mam for this long. This journey and step is huge for me in a million ways but I know I have her all along my way and I’ll be back home before I know it. But I just want to take this moment to acknowledge her and as many people who I can think of…I’m sure I’ve forgotten many but I hope you know I love you lots xx
I will be streaming live the tour as much as I can from www.facebook.com/livingandlaughingwithlou
Granny Nancy’s story can be purchased from here: www.livingandlaughingwithlou.com Thank you for your support. All books sales are supporting my dreams and are going towards the expense of this big trip as well as you are supporting a self published independent female author! Thank you x
I believe in you. I see you. Follow your dreams and don’t look back. Instead look up, smile and keep going!
Lou x
Hi Lou, I decided to buy your book. I shared this post with my Aunt Karin on Cape Cod. I asked her if we could go together to your promotion. This is short notice for her so we shall see. I couldn't get on the new website to find out where your stops are on the cape. As a side note, my Aunt Karin's mother Rose Blom was born in 1898 and died 2002! She had a lot in common with Granny Nancy.
Hey Louise, what a true inspiration you are to all of us, I run out of superlatives to describe you. I love reading about your adventures and yes it helps to give us all the little nudge we sometimes need to maybe take a leap of faith and to just go and do it. Reading your words helps me on my "brave" journey and I need all the help I can get !!. May I take this opportunity to wish you all the luck and love in the world on your journey Louise and I know you will make a lasting impression on everyone you encounter. Lots of love for now and take care of yourself on your travels. Martina