My REAL Best Friendl
Remember on Friday when I posted about my best friend that I’ve never met?! Well guess what? After attending the Jody Moore VIP event I realized something very beautiful and powerful. I had an experience that has given me a whole new perspective. It happened suddenly and will be one of those moments that I will remember for the rest of my life. Let me tell you the story of how I found my real best friend.
I arrived at the Salt Palace event center and I was giddy with excitement and hopeful that I would get to meet this person that I called my best friend. In the lobby there were photo opportunities where you could take a picture with a cutout of Jody Moore. So of course I did that! In addition to this, was a table set up where you could sign up to be in a drawing to be coached by Jody live at the event!! There was no hesitation to enter this drawing and I grabbed the card and filled it out. It asked for my name and the date when I had last been coached. I should mention that I am frequently getting coached through the Life Coach School and have hired an additional life coach to help me work through some specific issues with my biological father. So, the answer for when I was last coached was July 28, 2021, just two days prior to the event. I thought nothing of it and tossed my piece of hope into a jar about half full at the time. The event began and the enthusiasm continued as Jody came out on stage and began to talk to a room full of admirers and clients. She delivered a beautiful message and taught us for about 45 minutes about some new concepts that she has developed. I remained in awe of her and all that she has accomplished and how much she has helped me. Then it came time for her to start calling people on stage to be coached. She drew the first card from a very full jar and it wasn’t me. It was an awesome experience to witness Jody working the model right before my eyes. After a few more names were drawn and these lucky people were coached on stage, she went to the jar and pulled from the middle of the jar. She looked at the card and my stomach fluttered and then she said, “This person was just coached two days ago so I’m going to pick someone else.” And she flippantly tossed the card on the table. My heart sank. I couldn’t believe what had just happened. She drew another card and did something similar and said something about picking someone that hadn’t been coached recently. The next name met her criteria and that person was called on stage. It was at this moment that something changed for me. I was feeling a lot of different feelings which I know are because of my thoughts. I was thinking things like this: “That’s not fair! Why did she have us put the date of our last coaching if she was going to use it against us? I wish I would’ve known that she was going to be selective about who she picked from the jar.” And on and on and on. I felt myself becoming angry with her and the good vibes I had been experiencing slowly began to dissipate. It was like the air had been taken out of my balloon. And let’s not forget that I have NO idea if it was my name that she drew or not, but it felt very personal. And even if it wasn’t, she was clearly choosing people to come on stage that had to meet a certain criteria and I was not in that group. I began to see Jody as less of a best friend and more as just another person.
It was at this moment that Jody Moore lost best friend status. I still love and adore her. I will forever be grateful to her for creating a place for me to learn the tools that have brought me to where I am today. But I realized something that feels so amazing and empowering. Jody Moore is not my best friend. She is a life coach, who has created an amazing platform to reach a lot of people and help them change their lives. She doesn’t do the work. I do! I AM MY REAL BEST FRIEND!! I am the one who has done all the work. I am the one who continues to show up and look at my brain. I learn and apply the concepts that are helping me heal and move forward. I am the one who deserves all the credit. Not Jody Moore. Me, Kristan Knickerbocker.
For most of my life, I was my worst critic. I have been a terrible best friend. I have beat myself up, mentally, physically, and emotionally. I have spoken harshly to myself. I have engaged in pity parties and destructive behavior. I have belittled myself and shamed myself. I believed I wasn’t good enough and that I was lucky to have the life I had. That is until I was introduced to the concepts taught by Jody Moore’s Be Bold program. It was in July of 2020 and we were in the middle of a global pandemic. A dear friend encouraged me to sign up for the program. I had nothing to lose at the time. (Except for the $49 dollars!) As soon as I learned the model and became aware of my thoughts, I started to recognize just how amazing I am! I was on the brink of discovering that I am so much more that my past mistakes. By learning to manage my thoughts, I have been able to truly believe that I am a daughter of a loving Heavenly Father with the potential to become anything I want to. I have learned that I can mange my brain and create the results that I want in my life. I have learned that all I have to do is decide who I want to be and then chose my thoughts wisely. It’s hard work though. It took a lot of accountability and discomfort to get to where I am today. But it is the best work I have ever done and I would do it over and over again. I have learned through Jody’s program about the thought model and how my thoughts create feelings. I have learned that the only person in my life that was causing my pain was me. And I have learned about grace. Grace for myself and grace for others. Judgement and shame have started to fade away and are slowly being replaced with compassion and love. Does this mean that my life is perfect now and I never experience negative emotion? Absolutely not! But I now have the tools to sift through what this life brings and choose how I want to show up and feel. I get to decide who holds the power, me or the circumstances of my life. I get to create a life that is bigger and better than I ever could have imagined. And you know what? This is the best news! So thank you best friend, Kristan. Thank you for loving me the way I have always deserved and showing me exactly what I am made of.
