One of my most powerful realizations happened when I was 8 years old…I wrote in my journal (in fact I still have it in some box somewhere) that it was clear to me that I was here for a reason. And that reason was not about me at all.
Suffice it to say, that the journey since then has had significantly less clear moments – but mostly moments that forced me to pause and say, “so what is THIS all about anyways?” And time and time again I arrive at the same conclusion. We’re all here to help one another and our unique stories, our particular version of the lesson, is THE one that we are meant to express. Isn’t it interesting that many times when someone loses a loved one to a disease or illness that they are then inspired to form a charity or non-profit and spend their lives educating other about that situation or illness? Our greatest gifts to give not only come from the heart but they are borne out of our greatest struggles.
I used to think that my first book would be about success. Would be about making it in a tough world and prevailing. I had, after all, been working on my own rags to riches story when I persevered after my divorce. I experienced dark, low points, been on welfare as a newly single mother, I experienced risk, and I felt that I had arrived on some level when I started my first company, Inspire, less than 5 years later. Who would have known at that time that instead my first book would be about the continuation of that rollercoaster ride and that I would hit a new bottom of the hill with the loss of that business and my subsequent bankruptcy? I guess looking at it, the book is still about success and making it in a tough world and prevailing. Just not the version I could ever have imagined.
The thing that is interesting to me though is not just the unexpected twists and turns in the path, but how something like this upcoming book, Rebounding, would get borne out of it. I don’t ever watch the news much, I’ve much too strong a filter for negative media, but there was a day that it dawned on me that with all the economic struggles our country is experiencing, that there are many many other people that are probably similarly scrawling in their journals, expressing their disappointment, hurt, and confusion about how to move forward and piece their lives back together again. Is it possible, I asked myself, that someone else might benefit from hearing my story of struggle? In hearing my voice simply explore what I was learning?
I ask you today to look into your life and observe it from the hillside for a moment…what is unique about your journey that connects you to others? What is it about your life that others might benefit from knowing about? How much could you help someone else by sharing your struggles with them, and relating to their humanness simply by sharing your own? None of us is perfect but we are perfectly imperfect and that is something we all have in common. I challenge you to look for ways to connect with others with the most vulnerable sides of your own nature and experiences. What arises may just surprise you as I have been surprised.
