Flourishing Women – Three LLLs

Authors of inspirational quote book Live Love Laugh, Janette Philp, Michelle Ferry and Terri Gibbs, collectively known as the Three LLL’s, are three inspiring Perth women and mothers with a passion for personal improvement and getting the most out of life.

Pictured left to right: Michelle, Janette and Terri

The three women come from diverse backgrounds, but all share common links.  They met by chance at a wealth coaching program in January 2008 at a time when they had all arrived at points in their lives where they wondered where all the fun and meaning had gone.  They talked and shared ideas about life that they thought they should put into a book.

“This program prompted, activated and stimulated us to make changes in our lives in moving forward as we were all near empty nesters’ stage,” Janette said.

“The defining moment was when we knew we would not only write a book but we would also publish a book together - because we said we would and we knew each of us honoured our commitments.

“We understood that too often people talk about what they want, however, never get started towards achieving it.  We committed to the journey and did it, always under the umbrella of fun.  This is what we consider the ultimate fulfilment a human being can feel, living your dream through love and laughter and taking action,” Janette said.

Understanding that for many women, everyday life can get very hectic and it is easy to fall into a pattern of negative habits, the three women aimed to write a book to inspire and help women to get back to the basics and take small steps to make changes in their lives.

The book is based on their personal life experiences over many years, and is a collection of everyday pragmatic, genuine and fun-loving insights into life.

With their three unique personalities and diverse strengths, they worked on the book in various cafes around Perth.  Meeting weekly over many coffees and herbal teas, the book came together over a period of exactly nine months.

“It was like the joy of a great pregnancy, watching it grow and develop with an even greater outcome... the birth,” Janette said.

All three women are in their ‘F’ years (forties and fifties), and they each have three children and supporting husbands.  They have a desire to continually self-educate, grow and learn from new experiences, undertake new ventures and inspire others to step out and give it a go.

Janette Philp was born in New Zealand, settling in Australia 27 years ago, and has traveled the world extensively.  She has bought and built businesses, has gained her Private Pilots licence and in 2008 walked the Kokoda Track.  In September 2009, she successfully climbed Mount Kilimanjaro as part of a group called The Conquerors, to raise money for charity.

Michelle Ferry is a businesswoman whose background ranges from farming to fashion to the service industry.  She has a passion for buying, building and selling businesses.  Previous to Live Love Laugh she was the already successful author of The Lawn Book.

Terri Gibbs has a country background and is a practicing Life Coach and a Master Practitioner of NLP (neuro-linguistic programming).  She is currently creating a Book Writers Workshop for budding new authors, and is also undertaking a university writing course to hone her own writing skills.

“We all give life a go, are grateful for what we have in our lives today, appreciate what we have in our ledger and most importantly we look to give instead of taking,” Janette said.

“We feel blessed to be born into such wealthy lifestyles with loving husbands, three healthy beautiful children each, the freedom to make choices, take chances and the ability to live our lives to the fullest.

“We all see our glasses as half full, not half empty.  We have all been to the bottom emotionally, financially and physically and every time we go there we get back up stronger than before and achieve a greater appreciation of life and more fulfillment,” she said.

Janette’s personal motto is: “There are only two times in life: Now and Too Late”.  Not wanting to have any regrets in life, she says she has always had an element of adventure seeking, taking chances and being spontaneous.

“After conquering the Kokoda Track, I believed this (climbing Mt Kilimanjaro) would also be easily achievable.  How wrong could I be?  It was truly a test of courage, determination and mental fortitude.

“At times it took all my strength to concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other. The severe altitude drains you physically and mentally.  The body says stop, this is ridiculous, but the mind says “You can do it!”

“It took five days to reach the summit... an effort that was worth every slow, deliberate step up the side of the dusty, dormant volcano.  I learned that reaching the summit is not just given to you, it must be earned.

“As I stepped onto to the ridge with all my energy spent, my emotions erupted, I couldn’t stop crying.  It was extremely personal, very spiritual and deeply emotional.  I felt like I was standing on the roof of the world; an absolutely amazing experience.

Their advice is to see life’s problems as challenges, and to focus on the solution.

“Ask for help of family, friends or professionals; you do not have to go it alone.  Take small steps everyday towards making a change.  Smile more, especially if you don’t feel like it.  It makes everything feel so much better.”

“Don’t just think about it; take action,” Janette says.  “Decide on one thing you would like to do or achieve and begin with one small step every single day.  We are all inspired by doing something different every day, especially doing something that scares us.”

They are all involved with a number of charities in different capacities.  Through Live Love Laugh, they have committed to giving $50 000 to the Breast Cancer Foundation of WA.

“We contribute in the small ways we can.  Being more conscious daily of a greener world, smiling at a stranger, giving a helping hand, lending a listening ear; these are our small steps that we know will make a massive difference to our world.”

The three women are eager to continue writing and plan to publish an array of books stemming from the Live Love Laugh idea.

They have recently created a book called Live Love Laugh at the Top Mount Kilimanjaro, a selection of contributions from a diverse array of men and women who climbed Mount Kilimanjaro with Janette.  Each trekker contributed their gripping versions of self discovery, joy, heartaches, laughter, fatigue, altitude sickness and exhaustion all in the aim to achieve life-long dreams.

“Live Love Laugh has given us such awareness of how powerful it is to have simple little action steps to undertake in our daily lives.  We see it everywhere and feel the momentum growing of people embracing life with living, loving and laughing a whole lot more – you just can’t beat it!”

To find out more about the Three LLLs and to purchase the Live Love Laugh books, visit their website www.threellls.com.au

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