I'm sitting here feeling a little overwhelmed and emotional. I just read the blog posts of two good friends of mine. Here is Delilah's (which Andrea links to in her blog). And here is Andrea's.
Go read them, and then come back here and read this:
My life growing up was the opposite. As a child, the adults in my life always told me I was lazy. I was a terrible student, really terrible. As it turns out I had an undiagnosed learning disability. But awareness of such things didn't exist in the 70s. Having it instilled in me from a very young age that I wasn't good at much, I coasted through my childhood and teen years with very few, if any accomplishments.
I was a major under-achiever. It took me a whole extra year to finish high school (with underwhelming grades right to the very end). University was nothing but a fantasy. We won't even get into the low self-esteem part of the story, or the abusive 10-year relationship that further messed me up.
Fast forward to my 20s. I gradually realized I wasn't stupid at all. I went to community college for 2 years, graduated with honors, and got myself into university with those grades. Turns out all I had to do was study 3-4 times as hard as everyone else, and put myself in complete isolation when I studied. No noise, no distractions. And that's what I did. All the way through my Bachelor's degree in French, my Bachelor's degree in Education. And my Master's degree in French. Determined to succeed, I got As and Bs in everything. It was a lot of hard work. I never gave up.
In my 20s I learned that I can do ANYTHING. I've run 4 international marathons, lots of half-marathons, and 10k races. At 23 I backpacked across Europe for 2 months, all by myself, on my own dime. I've put myself through school. I learned Spanish in less than 9 weeks (my 6th language). I've lived in France twice, on my own merit, without my parents' financial help. I've been a teacher at the most elite private schools in the US and France.
In my early 30s I shifted gears completely and learned to be a silversmith. Mostly self taught in my craft, I ran a business from home so I could be a stay at home mom to my only child. Now that she's about to start school, I'm happily on a new path, thrilled to take a leap in a whole new direction.
I have found my life's passion in yoga and am about to embark on a very exciting journey to being a certified Bikram yoga instructor. Naomi Ross' studio, where I practice every day, changed my life. Without getting into dirty details, I believe it saved my life. I am eternally grateful to her. Some day within 5 years from now, I hope to open a kick-ass Bikram studio of my own. If I can do for other people what Nomi did for me, there could be no greater achievement in my life.
For the first half of my life I was a complete failure. For the second half and beyond, I live my life from goal to accomplishment. And I love it. I love this life of mine.
Go read them, and then come back here and read this:
My life growing up was the opposite. As a child, the adults in my life always told me I was lazy. I was a terrible student, really terrible. As it turns out I had an undiagnosed learning disability. But awareness of such things didn't exist in the 70s. Having it instilled in me from a very young age that I wasn't good at much, I coasted through my childhood and teen years with very few, if any accomplishments.
I was a major under-achiever. It took me a whole extra year to finish high school (with underwhelming grades right to the very end). University was nothing but a fantasy. We won't even get into the low self-esteem part of the story, or the abusive 10-year relationship that further messed me up.
Fast forward to my 20s. I gradually realized I wasn't stupid at all. I went to community college for 2 years, graduated with honors, and got myself into university with those grades. Turns out all I had to do was study 3-4 times as hard as everyone else, and put myself in complete isolation when I studied. No noise, no distractions. And that's what I did. All the way through my Bachelor's degree in French, my Bachelor's degree in Education. And my Master's degree in French. Determined to succeed, I got As and Bs in everything. It was a lot of hard work. I never gave up.
In my 20s I learned that I can do ANYTHING. I've run 4 international marathons, lots of half-marathons, and 10k races. At 23 I backpacked across Europe for 2 months, all by myself, on my own dime. I've put myself through school. I learned Spanish in less than 9 weeks (my 6th language). I've lived in France twice, on my own merit, without my parents' financial help. I've been a teacher at the most elite private schools in the US and France.
In my early 30s I shifted gears completely and learned to be a silversmith. Mostly self taught in my craft, I ran a business from home so I could be a stay at home mom to my only child. Now that she's about to start school, I'm happily on a new path, thrilled to take a leap in a whole new direction.
I have found my life's passion in yoga and am about to embark on a very exciting journey to being a certified Bikram yoga instructor. Naomi Ross' studio, where I practice every day, changed my life. Without getting into dirty details, I believe it saved my life. I am eternally grateful to her. Some day within 5 years from now, I hope to open a kick-ass Bikram studio of my own. If I can do for other people what Nomi did for me, there could be no greater achievement in my life.
For the first half of my life I was a complete failure. For the second half and beyond, I live my life from goal to accomplishment. And I love it. I love this life of mine.
Whenever people tell me that I inspire them, it makes my heart feel so overwhelmed with gratitude. I am so humbled by the idea that I might inspire somebody.
This blog post is not about tooting my own horn, or bragging about my accomplishments. It's to show you where I came from and where I've ended up. And that anyone can accomplish anything, as long as they believe they can, and are willing to take the leap, and do the work.
I am not special in any way. I have drive and focus, and I know what makes me happy, and that is all. I also have a truly fantastic and supportive husband who lifts me up, probably more than he realizes.
When I read my friends' blog posts today, I became so sad. We had such different upbringings, and yet we were all crippled by what we were told as kids.
This blog post is not about tooting my own horn, or bragging about my accomplishments. It's to show you where I came from and where I've ended up. And that anyone can accomplish anything, as long as they believe they can, and are willing to take the leap, and do the work.
I am not special in any way. I have drive and focus, and I know what makes me happy, and that is all. I also have a truly fantastic and supportive husband who lifts me up, probably more than he realizes.
When I read my friends' blog posts today, I became so sad. We had such different upbringings, and yet we were all crippled by what we were told as kids.
And we've all overcome it in our own way.
This is a picture from yesterday. If you’re friends with me on facebook, you saw me post it on my wall. I’m so excited with how far I’ve come in this difficult posture – almost doing the splits in the air! I work on it every single day giving it 100% with every attempt. Every day, I get closer and closer to achieving the full expression of the posture.
Yoga is a metaphor for life and this picture sums it up perfectly.
Whatever it is you want to do, find your focus, believe you can do it, and reach, reach, reach for it.
Yoga is a metaphor for life and this picture sums it up perfectly.
Whatever it is you want to do, find your focus, believe you can do it, and reach, reach, reach for it.
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." ~Marianne Williamson
