RHG Magazine July 2024 | Page 6

Shine as the Star in Your Life...

3 Tips to Unleash Your Story

When I was a little girl, I remember standing on a center stage, in a glittering spotlight, and wow my audiences with my presentations. Every ear eagerly awaiting what I’d say next. Of course, my beautiful stage was a giant boulder at the edge of a grove of trees, the spotlight was provided by summer sunshine, and I was facing a cornfield ready to be harvested. My confidence stood out all over me because I knew I was gonna be interviewed someday and I’d be prepared. I practiced speaking to be ready when that time came. Even if no one else in my world in that small Southern Minnesota farming community thought it would ever happen to me.

Can you relate? Were there times you spent preparing for your dreams to come true? Or, did you get shut down because all that pretending was setting you up for disappointment out in the real world. What you said you wanted just wasn’t realistic for someone like you.

I’m curious about the times where you shine in your life. Are you waiting to be chosen? Or are you choosing to change so you can take your place in the spotlight? What happened when life challenged? How did you cope?

When did you turn life’s lemons into lemonade?

Keep reading and I’ll share with you three tips to Unleash Your Story.

OK. Yes, let’s face it there are many stories to choose from in your life. Let’s look at how you shine in your life as the star taking center stage and living the life you are designed to live.

Tip #1: SHOW UP

It seems obvious, and yet, for me there have been times where I just felt invisible in my own life. I was busy pleasing everyone else. I lived the life they chose for me because they were guiding me in a direction they felt was best for me. It was safe. It was comfortable. It wasn’t me choosing for me.

I started keeping a journal when I was 11. That’s where I copied down poems and quotes from writers I admired. I also wrote about what I wanted to do someday. I wanted to travel, be an actress on Broadway, write about real people and real people’s lives the way Erma Bombeck did, be interviewed by Johnny Carson about my latest book and interview people the way Barbara Walters did.

I wanted to get a degree in journalism. College was expensive and not very practical for someone who didn’t have outstanding grades and no real career path the way a nurse or schoolteacher had. Instead, my life path was laid out to get a One-Year-Secretarial-Certificate, land a secretarial job, meet a nice boy, get married and start a family.

Which I did, mostly. I kept alive my dream of writing like Erma Bombeck and interviewing people the way Barbara Walters did. In case you don’t recognize those names, Erma was a housewife who became a household name with wildly popular column, humor books and a regular segment on