HAPPY NEW YEAR! Welcome to 2025!

And we're live. Hello, you absolutely amazing person, you. It's Sandy Boucher here once again, and welcome to my sun room. Of this I have static guard. This is literally the sun room in my home. Up until recently, this is where I spent spent my early mornings on the weekends. So 6:00am oh, we're gonna have company here. Blue is joining us because this is not my office. As I was saying, 6am on a Saturday or a Sunday, I make a rule not to go into my office on the weekends, even though it's right upstairs. Hang on. I have a cat caught to my sweater. So this is where I hang out. This is the computer I use. And. Oh, you're doing cute. So I thought something different. It's New Year's Day. Why not give you a glimpse into my world? And on top of that, I am now realizing this was really conducive to accomplishing things and getting me into a creative mindset. Coming in here and having a coffee before my morning workout as opposed to going straight into the gym. So it might be something I'm still doing. You'll have to let me know what you think of this environment. We're gonna find out if it's a good idea or not. There's quite a bit of traffic going by. This is not the most soundproof room in the house. You can see into my living room over here. There's Stormy wondering what in the world I'm doing, and blues on my lap here. It's going to be a cat kind of day. And something else different this year. Lou was wondering, why does she keep moving? What is she doing? Instead of a handy dandy index card, I actually have my cell phone because I haven't been working. But these great ideas keep popping into my head. So it was really easy to type them into my phone as a note. And then I realized, maybe that's a good idea. And I just realized, before I say anything else, can you hear the traffic? I hope not. Here's the cat moving around. I hope she doesn't shmuck my microphone here, because, yeah, we could just pretend this was easy. And I just was sitting here and just turned on the computer. That's not the case. I had to move my boom mic and I had to set some things up. But you're worth it. So all good. Now, if you're new here, which how perfect would it be to start following my videos on January 1, chances are really good if you're here, you're not new. I do have some people in the room. Feel free to say hi and let me know who's here. Where are you from? Are you new here, or have you been watching my videos before? I would love to chat with people today. That would be amazing. Now, what was I saying? I was talking about something. Oh, if you're new here. Hi, everyone. My name is Sandy Boucher in Ojibwe, or my Ojibwe spirit name is Red Thunderbolt Woman. I'm a proud member of Seine River First Nation, and I belong to the Loon Clan. One of the things we might as well get right out of the way right away. People ask me all the time because in every video I say, People ask me, what in the world are you saying? What does that mean? So, for one, it's Ojibwe Mishko Pagan. Literally, what I'm saying in Ojibwe is Red Thunderbolt Woman indigenous. Mishko Paganan queen indigenous, tongue tied. Today means, my name is so Red Thunderbolt Woman. My name is. And mandodem Moon Clan. So Mishko Pagnanquas Mando dam. Now you know, the mystery is gone. Now what am I going to talk about today? We're going to talk about 2024, going to talk about 2025. I'm going to give you some updates and some hints and tips and tricks and clues to what you can look forward to in 2025. And I got a big surprise for you or a big whatever for you, just FYI. Oh. Oh, who is this? River Shell. And I'm Happy New Year. Oh, thank you so much. I so appreciate it. Happy New Year to you, too. I honestly hope 2025 is your best year yet. That's what I'm aiming for. Thank you so much for saying hello. As I was saying, my Last video was December 18th. I have not been in front of a camera since December 18th. And honestly, maybe you can relate to this or maybe you can't, because I love what I do so much. I'm one of those people that are at risk of burnout because I often don't realize how tired I am until I stop to the point of almost exhaustion. And I vowed to take a Christmas break, even though I had to do a little work every day. That was a choice. Whatever it was. One hour, my choice, bring down the stress of the new year. I didn't do or I didn't feel the spark. I call it creative. Oh, there goes blue. So creative ideas did not stop start popping into my head again until December 28th. Ten days. Ten days of not coming up with ideas. Ten days of, you know, non enthusiastic to offer some new offering or some new message in a video. 10 days is what my spirit and my brain needed to recharge. If that ain't an indication of how tired I was, I don't know what is. But then once I was rested, the ideas started coming in and I, I am serious. 2025 is going to be my best year yet. After 15 years, I think I'm just starting to figure this stuff out and how to offer you the absolute best content and my seminar participants the absolute best and and without burning myself out. So one of the things I wanted to touch on, I do believe I mentioned this in the last two videos of 2024, my most memorable events of 2024. So I was thinking back and it's like, what are my most memorable events? And first and foremost, and I'll explain why in a second. London Health Sciences Center Easy win. And that's because it was a repeat event. I got to go back several times, which is rare. I rarely do that. I might come back again for the next annual event. I definitely have repeat bookings each year. But to do a series of seminars, I got to know people, I got to recognize them when I walked in the room. I got to build friendships and relationships. So that's why London Health Sciences Centers. Kudos to you for being such amazing hosts and just thank you. I'm going to be doing an event with them in January. Slightly different though, because this one's going to be a virtual event to lunch and learn, which I love doing. I mean, to me it's the best of all scenarios because it's one hour, which means it can fit into anyone's schedule. And two, I get to work with amazing people and sleep in my own bed. For someone who travels, if you travel a lot for work, yeah, totally. Get what I mean. Totally. Another event that popped into my head as one of my favorites for totally different reasons. Ganu Guing First Nation. Now Ganookaming is always going to have a special place in my heart because it was one community I worked with way at the beginning of my career. Chief Sherry Taylor now was, I think a health coordinator back then or health director. So she has definitely advanced in her career and to be asked to come back to the community was amazing. But the best part was, and this is one of those, if you've ever heard me use the phrase creators, showing off, creator as in higher power. When something happens that is totally not within my control but absolutely amazing, that's what I mean when Creator's showing off, just showing off how awesome he can make our lives if we just get on a good path and do good things and practice good values and then Creator's gonna show us. That's just what I believe. So I was at this event, a very informal event. It was a train the trainer, training a group of people how to facilitate a session. What happened though? Because it was very informal. Ask your questions. I will use my years of experience to help guide you. What ended up happening because I'm in a First Nation community, Anishinaabe community, an Ojibwe community, we ended up bunch of women. We ended up sitting around sharing teachings, sharing our truth, what we wish we could see in our lives and in our communities. Phenomenal. Phenomenal. And one of the things that I definitely noticed that happened, I don't want to say it happened for the first time, but it definitely happened More often in 2024 was the chance to sit with either. For me to have the chance to sit with either knowledge keepers or elders and just being able to relate to each other and mutually respectful and sharing teachings and sharing our truths and sharing our challenges. And it was just every single one of those opportunities was so just life affirming, career affirming, path affirming, just such a blessing, such a rejuvenation. Why? Why do you think? I love my career. So many amazing, amazing opportunities. I did share in the videos at the end of 2024, I believe. December 17th, 18th. Something around there, maybe the last two videos of last year that the least favorite event, an event I never should have done for Grand Council or Metis Grand Council, something around it was a Metis event. I am not Metis. That was crossing the center line, crossing over to the other side of the feather. I spoke from a First Nation perspective, but that was a Metis group. They needed a Metis speaker. And it's definitely not something I will be doing in the future for sure. So I mean humility teaching. I don't do this work because I'm perfect. I am human. I honestly believe it's one of my teachings that if you're still here, that's because you either still have things to learn, still have things to teach, or both, probably both. Don't ever be thinking you're here just to teach. That would be a pure ego trip. And coming forward. I already have so many events in the books which is just again, so life and career affirming that I'm on the right path. I think good things happen when you're on A good path. And the red road has always worked for me. And there goes blue. And stormy's probably gonna chaser any I can now. Maybe not. We shall see. But I'm going to be facilitating a conversation in Kenora between two different agencies end of January. I haven't been to Kenora in ages, so I'm looking forward to that. If you're in the Kenora area, let me know. But I'm so looking forward to that because it's just. It's a conversation and I love. That's the style of my videos. That's how I facilitate my seminars and workshops. It's a conversation. We're getting together to have tea so I can share some things with you to help you on your journey. My work is never about shame or guilt. It's not your fault you weren't taught certain things or it's not your fault you were taught stereotypes about indigenous people. Anger, shame and guilt is not going to help. But I can clear up some things and then the illness is on you. To change. Definitely comes with. With expectation. See more people in the room, say hi in chat. I'd love to know who's here now. I'm looking at the notes on my phone. I promised you that I had something special for 2025, and I do every single year. 2024 was the through indigenous eyes videos. 2023 was the path to reconciliation. There always seems to be a theme. Well, what the best part, taking time off and just taking days to ponder and think about things is you can really clarify your ideas. Oh, Patricia's here. Oh, Happy New Year, Patricia. Thank you so much for showing up. I thought you weren't able to make it. I appreciate that you're here. I love it, in fact. So one of the things or what we're going to be focusing on in 2025 is I know mainstream love short and sweet. They love check lists. They love get to the point we get called out for being blunt, but it's mainstream they want. Straight to the point. I actually came up with the reconciliation equation. You know, an equation A plus B equals C. Well, in this case, it's A plus B equals reconciliation. And on January 6th, with the which is my first official video of 2025, I'm going to reveal the equation to you. And if you've been following my work for a while, you're probably not going to be surprised. You could probably figure it out. And I'm going to make it really super easy for the followers right now. And if you know, well, I'm not going to tell you if you get it right or not. You got to wait till January 6th. But it's H +W equals reconciliation or H plus W equals R. And I'll let you know that on January 6th. And then what I'm going to do for at least the first part of 2025 is really expand on that equation. Because the reality is when I speak reconciliation, I'm talking Canadian Indigenous reconciliation. But we all deal with reconciliation on a regular basis. If you have any kind of relationship with another human being, at some point you're going to disagree. And some point you have to reconcile, make up, figure out how you're going to move forward, apologize, change your behavior or don't. Right. And risk the relationship. So what I'm excited about is what I'm going to be sharing is going to apply to every relationship you have. And if there's one comment I've always heard about Anishinaabe or Indigenous teachings is that they're so common sense that they seem so grounded. And this is going to be an example of that for sure, because this equation is going to apply to absolutely everything. And I'm looking forward to unpacking and sharing with you how it applies to absolutely everything. So we're going to have some really good conversations there. By the way, you don't want to miss out. Subscribe to my YouTube channel. Duh. Think that's kind of a given if you, rather than having to go to YouTube, I don't know what your life is like. I don't know how often you do that. If you would prefer to receive the video in your inbox, then you gotta go to sandy boucher.com me my website, and click on free training up in the top right hand corner. And that's how you sign up to get on my email list. I send out a little message every single day and I send out the video. Which reminds me, another update for you. If you followed my career, you may know this. If you've only watched me on YouTube, you might not. You would have had to have been on Facebook to know this. So 15 years ago, my career, my guest started in two places, primarily on Facebook, which is where I started sharing entries from my first book, even before it was the first book and I started building a following there. And then also I started shooting a YouTube video every single day and putting it out five days a week. Which funny thing, I didn't think anyone was going to be here today because it is New Year's Day and I had to laugh because I thought, you know what? Way back when I shot a video, knowing I didn't have a following, and I used to say to myself, I'm talking to the woman that's going to one day watch this. Because back then I was all about female empowerment and healing and realizing how strong and resilient we are. And look at those two playing. They're loving that I'm in this room and not upstairs in my office. But this morning when I went to turn this on, I thought, well, you know what? I'm going to do that again. I guess I'm going to be talking to the woman that's going to one day watch this. But there's people here, so I don't need to worry about that. Whoops. Okay, so what was I saying about Facebook? There's going to be a change. I used to do like a daily more personal message there every single morning. And then maybe about six months ago, I just started sharing my YouTube video on my Facebook page to make it easier for people to see it. And just before, when I say just before Christmas, sometime in December, Facebook changed things like it tends to do. And people with pages were given the option of a broadcast channel, which is more like Facebook Messenger. And you can't comment back, but I can send out a personal message every morning. And I actually have, including all the days in the Christmas holidays. So if you really like the personal morning, uplifting, empowering message for me, which I still do because that's who I am, I'm always going to be that way. Then you need to sign up to be on my broadcast channel. If you're on Facebook, you know, like, and follow my Facebook page, you're going to see the YouTube video there. I'm just making it really super easy for you to follow me. So. And again, if you sign up@sandybouchet.com to be on my email list, well, now you're getting a different personal message along with the video. So that's awesome. Now, a couple things I touched on last year that I wanted to bring you up to speed on. No, they didn't just fall through the cracks. So the first one was I am reading we should all be Millionaires by Rachel Rogers. And you caught that. I said I am reading, meaning I'm still reading it even though I'm getting through it. I used to have a I have a to do list every single day, my by daily routine of things I'm going to do. And one of them was to read 20 pages a day. And that Sounds like no big deal. It was not fitting in my schedule. I will own that. Things had to change. I had changed my schedule to fit in a daily workout and that's working really super well. But I hadn't yet figured out how to fit in daily reading. Little did I know it was coming into this room. So I have been doing daily readings, but I haven't been doing 20 pages. And there's a reason, if you're an entrepreneur. For what? If you're a female entrepreneur, you need to read this book because you're a marginalized person. She talks like I do. Like, just like friends sitting there, cup of tea, you know, not, not blown smoke up your butt. Not the 15 words. Just. Just keeping it real. There is no way in God's green earth that I could read 20 pages of this book. And that's not because I'm lazy or don't have the time. I was on Christmas break. I definitely had the time. It's because I read like a page or two or maybe four and it sparked some creative idea. And I'm off writing that down and taking notes. And that's why if you are a female entrepreneur and you read this book and all you do is read it, read it again and slow yourself down and actually apply it to your life. Because as my mom would say, wisdom is useless if it's not applied. If you just, you didn't have all the degrees in the world, if you don't do anything with it, what's the point? This book and all, it looks like it needs a haircut. Now I'm going to be reading that for a while, but my business is benefiting, benefiting from it. Not a bad thing at all. Trying to watch the time here. I don't want to take up your entire day. Another thing that happened last year and I just, I wanted to get real and get honest with people. That's always my goal. But if you follow my career, I believe it was November, I was diagnosed diabetic, which as much as I hate that reality, not the biggest surprise in the world because that is definitely in my family tree. Very common amongst indigenous people. That is not an excuse. And like my mom before me, I definitely took it as a wake up call, not an excuse use. So I wanted to show you something I have this day book is my longest relationship. My ex husband bought it for me in like 19, I want to say 96. It's holding up really well, don't you think? I love this book. Anyways, what I started doing was I Wanted to track first. I was using my phone, but I'm very much a visual person. And this is not going to be pretty in the beginning, but hang in there, it gets better. You know how you have the monthly calendars you can put in your daytimer. Okay, now I'm talking to people old enough that we are using daytimers, the monthly calendar, in your phone or in your email program. So what I started doing, I bought myself a cute little smiley face stamp and I started to put a stamp on the days that I worked out because I wanted to become accountable. I wanted to see as we can all say we work out. And if it was once in the last six months, that's really not helping anything. So I started in July. I think you can see that. Meh. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 8 days out of 31 days I worked out. This is not great. This is not the worst. It's not one of those people that hasn't worked out in 10 years. But not great. Had to do better. Summertime. How are you for getting fit in the summer? This is August. That's getting real. Three days. September can get really busy for me. And that used to be a good enough excuse. There's September. I made it up to four days. October. I knew I had. Okay, I'm going to be real honest here. October. I knew I had a doctor's appointment coming up. It's kind of like cleaning your house before the cleaning lady shows up. If you ever got your stuff together before you got to go to the doctors and do the test, maybe I'm the only one, but I'm definitely someone who does that. So you can see. I knew my doctor's appointment was coming up. So October Definitely got better. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 out of 31. Not great. But obviously compared to the other months, definitely better. We're on the right track. November. I got my diagnosis early November. You see a difference. I am happy to say that going back to November 10th, ever since November 10th, I have done between five and seven workouts a week. I love the way it feels. I love the weight I've lost. I love what it's doing for my blood sugar. I love what it's doing for my blood pressure. Life is good. And when we get into December, of course we got the holidays and the whole nine yards, but I think I did pretty good in December. And yes, of course, today's January 1st. There is no way I am starting out the new year without getting my workout in so. And by the way, I'm 60 years old and yes, it is really super hard to lose weight at my age, especially if that's your focus. Don't do it to lose weight, do it to get healthier. For me, I, for one, diabetes diagnosis, that was a kick in the butt. Scary. I want to be around for my grandchildren for many, many years. That's not good. I'm never been the complacent type. I'm not just going to sit around and accept that. And, oh, well, I can't change things. I'm diabetic. Yes, my mom did it, so can I. And I am not medicated, by the way. Even my doctor said that I am very well regulated just with what I do on my own. And I intend on doing that for many years to come. I actually intend on 2025 being the healthiest I've been in many years. Happy New Year. Carrot cake. Okay, that might be the best nickname I have ever come across. Kind of makes me hungry, but it made me giggle. And I love anything that makes me giggle. Sam. Carrot cake. Okay. I love. I love you. That is the best. I love it. Thanks for the giggle. That was amazing. What did I want to share with you next? Oh, you know what? I don't know. But you. You know this about me. I'm into quotes. I am into quotes. And my. When I find a really good quote, it becomes my desktop picture. It becomes the wallpaper on my phone. Now, right now, the image that's my desktop picture is different than the wallpaper on my phone because I just changed the wallpaper on my phone this morning. But I did want to share with you the quote that is on. That's not the one. Just scroll back a little bit here. Yes. Listen to this. Who is this by? Brianna West. The quote is, one day, that mountain that is in front of you will be so far behind you, it'll barely be visible in the distance. But the person you become and learning to get over it, that'll stay with you forever. That's the point of the mountain. I have definitely seen my challenges in my 15 years in business. And. And that quote couldn't be more accurate because as I've said a million times, you don't get to say you're 15 years in business until after you've said, I'm a year in business, two years in business, three years in business. Because every single one of them brings lessons with it. I was eating carrot cake and then I made an account that is so useful. I love that. So Much. And then what's on my phone right now? This is me. Like I said, the theme for the new year. I don't do resolutions because I. I set goals that I do every single day. So a resolution. I have a list I do every single morning. So. But what I wrote put as my. My wallpaper on my phone. It says 2025. I have zero interest in distractions. This boss is focused on earning rewards. So think about it because I don't know. I'm gonna go on a rant for a second. There's single women watching this. Maybe you can relate especially if you're a successful professional single woman. There are so many men out there. That's horrible way of putting it. I have a tendon. I meet these men and it's largely to do with my age group that are focused on retirement or want to distract me from working so hard. Excuse me, I put 15 years into this. It's just starting to get fun. Get away from me. Are you going to pay my bills? Are you going to increase my goals every year and help me hit my sales targets? I don't think so. And why do you want me to stop being me? But if you give me the space to be me, you could so easily be my reward at the end of a hard day or a hard week like my girlfriend Sam is 100% a reward. Can I share a quote today by a strong woman? In my opinion. Go for it, Sam. This ought to be good. I am dying to know what quotes Sam came up with. I hope it's one I agree with. When that get awkward, we're watching the chat here. See what Sam's going to share while we're waiting. Oh, here we go. People are going to judge you anyway so you might as well do what you want. True. I'm going to add to that and it's Taylor Swift. I love it. Don't do what you want. That and and I come was from such a marginalized, oppressed background. Often do what you want is not a good idea. That's why I say it. Don't do what you want. Do what your future self needs you to do. That's what you should be doing today. And to I agree to heck with what other people think of what you're doing. I always say there's only two people that need to be proud of you creator and the woman in the mirror. The person looking back at you. They're proud of you at the end of the day. How you handled yourself, how you spoke, what you did, how you honored the day, then you're good. And anyone else. You know what I always go to. If they got time to be talking about me, that's because they don't want to focus on their life. They're. They're avoiding something like I could care to. I'm not talking about other people. I don't have time. I'm focusing on crushing my own life. So I totally get that. People. Yeah. Thanks, Sam. Yeah, so don't just do what you want. Because you know what? What I want is to go eat three pieces of chocolate cake. Am I gonna do it? No. No. I would be so disappointed with myself. And if there's one thing I have Learned in my 60 years on the planet. If you think it feels horrible to disappoint a loved one, it doesn't feel anything compared to how bad it feels to disappoint yourself. Stop breaking promises with yourself. Stop letting yourself down. Stop over committing. Stop putting yourself last and then being shocked when everyone else does because you. You taught them to do it. Treat yourself like a person of value because creator knows you are. I know you are. It's about time you figured that out. Just saying. Go on a little rant here. Some changes on my website. Don't know if you guys have ever checked out my website, but really focusing now. This is a business term for sure. B2B which means business selling to business as opposed to B2C. My customer sales, YouTube and Amazon. All my books are on Amazon. You're also going to see a whole bunch of ebooks coming out in 2025. So shorter, cheaper, less expensive. I should have said offerings that are going to be on Amazon that you're going to be able to purchase. And yeah, that's going to be awesome. Last but not least. Yeah, about time to wrap this up. A prediction for 2025. What do I think? I keep. You're not losing your mind. I keep kicking the table. That's why the camera shakes. My prediction for 2025. I am the most optimistic person you know and I. I impersistence. I'm determined. I don't care what happens, I'm going to keep going. That's just who I am. But the storm is just starting. We are seeing the growth of the conservative movement within Canada. And you know what? I wish like so many people, we could go back to the days. My son and I just had this discussion yesterday. Going back to where conservatives and liberals, the difference was policy. But what we're seeing with the conservative movement now is a difference in Human values and human rights. And if you believe in taking away human rights, then we do not agree. And I have zero use for Pierre Poliev and the Conservative Party. They are mimicking Trump. So if he thinks he's an alternative now, look to the South. And if you think that's a good idea. We need change. I totally agree with you. But you don't sign a contract with the devil to get change. There needs to be change. And I'm indigenous. Hello. Of course there needs to be change. But destroying. We will never have a healthy country. If one group gets ahead by crushing another group. That is never going to work. That is not medicine wheel teachings. That is not indigenous teachings. And if indigenous people are slamming other groups, then that's. That's just as bad. Like we. I understand where it gets. It's oppression. Right. We attack the enemy. But I mean, we've been treated like crap for a long period of time and still treated that way. And if you don't understand that, you need some education to do. If you're still buying all the stereotypes. I was actually thinking about that this morning. Sorry, hit the microphone. I was going to do a video called All White People Suck or something along that lines, knowing full well. Can you say clickbait like so many people would freak? Because that's ridiculous to say. But the point of the video would have been it's equally ridiculous to say all black people are whatever, or all indigenous people are whatever, or all Jewish people are whatever, or all Palestinian people are whatever. It's ridiculous. And we got to get away from those generalizations and those stereotypes. The oppression of one. What's that poem? You know, they came for this group and I didn't say anything. And then they came for that group and I didn't say anything, and then they came for me and there was no one left to say anything. Exactly. Exactly. So unfortunately, I see, I predict we're going to go into an election, we're going to see a conservative win unless we see a change in the leadership of the Liberal Party. And then God help us all, or Creator help us all. I think we're going to see a lot more racism, a lot more anti indigenous racism, and we're going to see a lot more white supremacy. I know I've got a lot of work to do. And it also means that every single one of you, especially if you're white, non indigenous, if you're willing to be learning and still speaking up and still being an ally and standing against this, then you become even more valuable do not ever cross the line and speak for us. That's ego. That's not allyship. And we'll talk more about that this year. How to we'll talk about the equation and. And how to truly reach reconciliation no matter who the two parties are are so that brings me to the end of everything I wanted to talk about today. Watch for the January 6th video where I introduce the reconciliation equation. I just. The more I think about it, the more it makes sense. And I'm so thrilled that you join me here today on. Oh look at. I put Stormy to sleep in blue. Or over here blue looks. Oh no. Blue staring at me. Stormy sound asleep because it's New Year's Day. Maybe taking a nap is not a bad idea. I'm not going to take a nap. But you never know. Until the 6th. Please take care of you. I hope the 20. You're so welcome. Thank you. Take care of yourself this year. As my mom would say, teach other people how to treat you. Sh. Show self respect. Show take care of yourself. Self care is self respect. I hope you have the best you're going. You can't control the world, but you can make sure to take care of yourself so you can handle what happens in the best way possible. And that's what I'm hoping for you until the 6th. Please take care of you. I love you. Bye bye.