I was interviewed for an article in the on line Los Angeles magazine
Bold Journey and this is the article.
Meet
Gail Campbell
Gail , we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?
That year long adventure gave me a lot of confidence and seeing how other less well off countries live I realized how very fortunate and lucky I was.
I had also learnt a transcendental meditation technique prior to travelling that really was a turning point for me, helping me focus my mind easily at any task in hand, it stopped the un-necessary chatter of my mind and overall made me feel happier in myself.
I came back from that experience much wiser and started to really appreciate everything and saw the world differently, I also felt more confident, more settled in myself and more driven.
Once back in the Uk I worked for a year or so in some fun type jobs, I was an insurance broker previously and didn’t want to go back to that and prior to that had done all sorts of jobs, office work, hotel work.
I worked as a paint ball Marshall at weekends which was so much fun and in my friends sandwich shop and then selling caravans on a holiday park.
I had rented out my flat to travel and decided not to move back into it as I knew I wanted to work abroad again.
The opportunity arose to work in Bali, Indonesia and that is what I did selling time share and that experience was fabulous, I met amazing people and loved the culture there and carried on with my meditation.
A year later unfortunately the Bali bombings happened and my late mum was very ill therefore I left and came back to the Highlands of Scotland to look after her.
That was 18 years ago and I only intended coming back for a short while however my mother needed me and perhaps I needed her and therefore for 5 years I helped look after her and within that time fell in love with the Highlands where my mother and her side of the family were from, I’m still here now appreciating every day and noticing the beauty of the area, I feel very lucky to live in such a fabulous place.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
Eight years ago the idea presented itself to buy a 6 bedroomed bed & breakfast with a friend as I couldn’t afford to do that alone. I drew a business plan up, did some research and knew I was doing the right thing as everything went smoothly and a couple of months later my friend and I were running a well established bed and breakfast.
The previous owners were very kind and showed us how they did things and we just copied them, it’s a Victorian building near the center of Inverness, the capital of the Highlands in Scotland in the UK.
Previous to that I worked at a health club selling the memberships for a year then worked for a recruitment company then worked 6 years for an oil & gas co organising medical and co-ordinating any medical emergencies within the world wide group and delivering defibrillator training to staff within their offices in the uk.
I decided I wanted a change and believe I can do most jobs if I put my mind to it and feel passionate about it. I always loved hotel work – reception and waitressing and thought running a bed and breakfast would be fun and interesting.
I meet people from all over the world and open 7 months of the year and have long term tenants in the rooms in the winter.
My love of travel and my experience of travelling helps and my enthusiasm for the highlands I share with my guests, my goal in life is to treat people as
I would like to be treated and to make sure they have the best experience possible. I help them with trip ideas if needed and I love what I do especially now that I run my business on my own as I bought my friend out 1 and a half years ago, I changed her room to a letting room and now have 7 en suite rooms instead of 6. I live in a wooden chalet next to my business that I had built for me 7 years ago as I like to be separate.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Looking back three qualities are to never give up even if you make mistakes, stick at a job even if you don’t like it until you secure another one, in the past I have had quite a few jobs like that and overcame the obstacles and stuck with it.
Having an open mind and being flexible and working on myself … reading books about gratitude and finding something that makes you feel happy even if feeling low, in my case I go swimming or for a walk or to the cinema or do some volunteering, I do that in the winter when not working.
Not comparing myself to others, I used to do that when I was younger and it’s probably human nature to do so however we are all individual and unique with our own strengths and weaknesses and to realise it’s ok to make mistakes and to be wrong sometimes and just to admit it and say sorry if necessary. To fall down and just get up again and keep trying, I’m not one for setting goals in life, I’m not really into that concept, I just strive to do the things that make me feel happy, I am however a list maker and used to write down the things I wanted in life and I have had a vision board for years, those things work for me.
Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?
If I feel overwhelmed I share how I feel with close friends and take myself off for a walk with my dog. I meditate and this is the one thing that takes me to a calm and relaxed place and I find that eventually the solution or answer to any problem will present itself to me or come into my mind.
I always focus on the positive aspect of any problem rather than the negative, I try to flip any negative thought that’s going on to a positive one.
