By Ed Karvoski Jr., Contributing Writer
Hudson – 2016 was a particularly eventful year for Michelle Mercier of Hudson. Soon after losing her corporate job in marketing operations last spring, she felt compelled to live more honestly and help others do the same. She named her new venture Create Honesty.
“I’d gone through a really traumatic birthing experience, juggling two kids with significant medical issues, and I was working 60-plus hours a week,” Mercier shared. “Then I got a call that I was laid off from my job. I had an ‘ah-ha’ moment. I realized that maybe the life I was living wasn’t me, which is why it’s called Create Honesty. I want a constant reminder to keep myself honest.”
On the Create Honesty website, Mercier stated, “I waved the white flag and vowed to make a change in my life.” She believes that surrendering is an important first step.
“It’s beginning a journey of self-awareness,” she noted. “Take stock of your strengths and weaknesses. Stop running and slow down, then you can hear yourself think.”
In addition to ongoing life coaching, Create Honesty offers standalone activities for the public. On Oct. 22, Mercier led an inspiration station at the 19th annual Hudson Pumpkin Fest in Morgan Bowl. There, festival-goers decorated kindness rocks and gratitude pumpkins for a donation to the Hudson Community Food Pantry. Earlier that day, Mercier drove through downtown Hudson, where protests demonstrated the divisive 2016 presidential election.
“I was thinking negatively about the world and then I went to Pumpkin Fest,” she relayed. “The first child that created a kindness rock handed it to me with a big smile on her face. On the rock she wrote ‘I love everyone!’ We can learn a lot from kids. They don’t have the expectations on them that adults place on ourselves.”
Last summer, Mercier began her personal gratitude list. She expanded the project by placing boxes at business including Avidia Bank, Rail Trail Flatbread Company and Serendipity. Customers expressed their gratitude on cards that were stored in the boxes. On Dec. 3, she displayed 100 of those cards at the 19th annual Hudson Downtown Holiday Stroll. More were added that evening.
“I started my gratitude list because I needed to deprogram myself from being in the corporate landscape, which is very cutthroat,” she explained. “There’s so much negativity flying around. I thought it would be great if we saw lots of sentiments of gratitude from this community.”
Mercier cites an Avidia Bank customer’s gratitude list as most memorable for her. That person wrote, “I can walk again. Thankful for a second chance. Thankful that I’m alive to see my grandchildren and great-grandchildren grow up.”
“That gratitude list stayed with me,” Mercier acknowledged. “I keep some of these cards with me and read them if I’m having an off day.”
On Dec. 27, at the Lofts on Felton in downtown Hudson, Mercier led a workshop titled “Gratitude, Love and Learnings: Releasing 2016.” Participants reflected on their past year in preparation for 2017.
“Many people jump right into resolutions and don’t value what they’ve learned or accomplished,” Mercier said. “People hold onto baggage, but you need to clear space for creativity in order to move forward.”
The mission of Create Honesty is to inspire an authentic world. Mercier is grateful that she’s now surrounded by daily gratitude reminders.
“Not only has this influenced myself personally, it has influenced my family, friends and everyone around me in a positive manner, which we need more of in this world now,” she said. “When we skew too much to the negative, we need to bring it back to our authentic selves, which is naturally good.”
For more information, visit www.createhonesty.com and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/createhonesty.
