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About the Book

Embracing the Valley is a journey through the ups and downs of life with a reminder that there is purpose to it all. As leaders we often use analogies about life on top of the mountain, not realising that life happens in the valley. When we use these profoundly simple tools to recognise the evil, see the good and focus on the beauty our stories change from victimisation to victory. Nadia takes readers through the transformational process of shifting defeatist mindsets into powerful determinants of the future. These steps are punctuated with stories that dynamically illustrate the guidance provided. Treat yourself to her personal Memoirs from the Valley through her poetic expression of love, pain, joy, isolation and victory. Allow yourself to renew, rediscover and relaunch regardless of the hard paths of life so you can define your vision, find your voice, determine the version of your story that you want to be told and live a life of victory.
From the Author


The idea for this book came from a Eureka moment at church. Now, understand this, I grew up in church, my preferred religion is Christianity and as Marx suggests, I am quite satisfied with that opiate.
I was prepared to write about financial hardships, difficult relationships, finding opportunities when everyone else sees challenges. Life was looking up, solutions were in place to a few problems. I was going to be writing about these tough times in past tense. Then, the valley had another dimension. Thirty years old. I felt a lump in my right breast.
Honestly, the original idea for this book was going to be very business oriented and self-helpy, but entering this dimension of the valley made it important to personalise the book, so I can hold your hand and we could embrace your valley together.
Chapter Titles

The Myth of the Peak
All the glory is experienced on the mountaintop and the valley is for the unimaginative, uninspired and unwilling people who didn't have what it would take to reach the peak.
Life Happens in the Valley
Nothing grows at the top of a proper mountain. We'd have to carry all essential supplies to sustain life. In the valley rivers flow, bunnies hop. flowers grow and everyday the stuff between birth and death happen in the valley.
Recognise the Evil
We can pretend that everything is always fine all the time or we can pluck our heads from the sand and recognise that there are really bad elements of which we need to be aware and for which we need to prepare ourselves.
See the Good
Now that we are prepared and protected, we can take the time to look around and see how much good is around us, within us and within others. As all consuming as a challenge may seem, there is so much good right here, right now, in this space.
Focus on the Beauty
Seeing is believing but focus is a choice. Not only can we see good around us but we must choose to focus on the unparalleled beauty of the simplest whispers of love that surround in, even in the hardest moments of life.
Provision in Dark Places
While we may prefer for the deepest and darkest dimensions of our valleys to just disappear, it doesn't work like that. Everything that we need is provided for us in the valley with abundance so we can make it through with grace.
Renew
Now that we know better, we can allow this great news to wash over us and to bring us into a place of rest instead of a frantic and nervous need to fix everything else and everyone else.
Rediscover
As we renew ourselves, it's as though the world around us seems to become new as well. Now with childlike wonder we can explore this valley that seemed so awful with new eyes and rediscover ourselves in the process.
Relaunch
Congratulations! Like a caterpillar in a chrysalis we have done the work and spent the time to heal from within. Now we can start again and we can start again as many times as we need to in order to thrive here, appreciate the journey up the mountain, fully experience the moment on the mountaintop and descend with love and grace to help others live full lives of victory by Embracing the Valley.
Poetry Album

At the end of each chapter is a personal Memoir from the Valley. These are poems I had written to dissipate very raw emotions at the time.
I thought it would be a good idea to show the realness of these valley moments, since we are so used to glossing over them or pretending that they never happened. Talk about vulnerability!
I took my husband’s suggestion to record the poetry to whole new heights. Thanks to an amazing sound engineering and production team, you can listen to these rhythmic poems on the album Memoirs from the Valley
