Step through the door to a whole lot of French inspired fun

Introducing Distant Francophile – & its connection to confidence

I’d always had a passing interest in France. But this interest grew into a full blown obsession after spending October 2008 in Paris and Provence with my husband and our son. We fell in love with the people, the culture, the style, the architecture, the food and the wine… Basically, we fell in love with everything about the place.

From that very first trip, we were confirmed francophiles and have chosen to brave the 24 hour flight from Melbourne, Australia to France many, many times. We try to visit at least annually, if not more regularly.

My passion for the French lifestyle saw found me creating the Distant Francophile community back in 2014, primarily as a creative way to share my love of all things French.

And right about now, I’ll bet you’re wondering why I’m sharing Distant Francophile & my love of France with you…

Well, that’s because Distant Francophile has been a massive part of my own self confidence journey.

In starting my blog, I had to get comfortable with:

– Being visible;

– Putting both my work and my passions out into the world – and being prepared for the judgement that inevitably comes with doing that;

– Looking at pictures of myself. I’d not been happy in front of a camera since I was about nine years old. But having a blog required photos….of me. So I had to learn to accept myself in photographs;

 – Admit to myself that I wanted to write, and that I wanted to share my writing with others. This admission led me to working on a book!! Deciding to write a book saw me signing up for writer’s workshops with real-life authors, despite the fact that I was absolutely convinced that my own words were quite ordinary.

Believe it or not, all of this discomfort not only contributed to the evolution of Distant Francophile but it also helped my career. Any awkwardness I might have felt in the work context – about, perhaps, my communication style or being visible, diminished almost immediately.  Putting a piece of me out into the world every week built my confidence (in baby steps, of course) and finally saw me looking for ways to help others grow in confidence. Which led me to coaching!

For me personally, founding Distant Francophile has delivered so much.