Crazy negative responses to Oprah today...

This image of sheep will make sense if you keep reading.  Because right now, it seems rather silly.
Here are my thoughts today.  I was sitting here enjoying Oprah Winfrey interview Tracey Morgan on her series "Super Soul Sunday:"  I was enjoying Tracey discussing his life experiences and how being in a car accident changed him and his perception on life. I was touched.

I made the mistake of reading other people's comments.
I should have known better.  UGH!  While most people were uplifted and were commenting about the great story and inspiration they were receiving, there were those few... those very few...  who were idiots.  Yes, I am using the word idiots.  I am probably wrong.  I am sure those negative individuals probably just have a different life experience and have no idea what they are saying is so ridiculously wrong.  Let me let you peak into their comments:

"Oprah should interview real people not rich folks who we real people can't relate to."

"Tracey Morgan is just a rich actor, He's not relatable."

"We need to hear from real people."

Etc...

I am sure Oprah or any person who has thousands of viewers is used to the negativity that comes with putting yourself out there for others.  It comes with the territory, I know,  I know.

ANYWAY....
What  I learned from those folks making the negative comments was that if you have a profession that you worked hard at, like Tracey had (apparently those people missed that part of the interview), once you get rich and famous you are no longer human and have nothing to offer the rest of the world of average people still "slumming it".

Uhhhh.....

I'm confused.
OK folks.  Here's the deal, you can choose to learn anything from anyone anywhere of any background, color, social-economic status, gender, nationality,.... uhhhhhh.....

what else?

YOU decide if you can learn or you can shut your mind down because YOU decide if you are unteachable.

Tracey Morgan and I are very different people.  He is a black man, comedian, with a youth history of drugs and alcohol.  I am not.  He's got a lot more money than me and has been divorced.

I am a white woman, Mormon, never touched a drop of alcohol or drugs in my life, only been married once, can't even stand most of Tracey Morgan's comedy, Living in Utah, still rising out of financially rough times.  my life is VERY different from Tracey's.  But I found myself riveted to his story of triumph.  I loved his testimony of God's role in his life.  I found myself learning and growing from what he had to share with the world.

Did you know the thing he is most grateful for in life is... LIFE everyday?

It's a beautiful sentiment.

As I was listening to him and loving what I was gaining, I was reading a few comments about how he was unrelatable.  And yet, there I was finding him very relatable to me.  A white, conservative female in Utah living a lower class lifestyle was finding a Black comedian living an upper-class life after rising out of Drug use and alcohol and a broken marriage....  I found him relatable.  I was learning while a few other closed their minds because they chose not to see the similarities or they chose not to learn because apparently they believe you can only learn from someone who is in your exact shoes.  It's a sad state of mind.

That brings me to the picture of the sheep above.

I am blessed with a very wise mother.  I grew up on a ranch in Wyoming.  My uncle and grandpa raised sheep and cattle.  As we drove down our 2 mile dirt road, we were often stopped by a herd of sheep crossing the road in front of us.  I remember the time my mom took the opportunity to find all the life lessons she could think of while watching the sheep cross in front of us.  "sheep and teenagers are a lot alike...."  she went on with her analogy which I don't really remember.

My mom took opportunities often to teach us metaphors for life from the animals on the ranch or anything she saw in front of her.  I learned from my mom that you can learn any life lesson wherever you choose to look for one.  If I can learn about life from a herd of sheep, surely I can also learn from a man who rose out of rough situations to stardom!  Right?   We look different, we think different, We are very different.  But he has something to offer and I can choose to see it or reject it.

Maybe those negative comments on Oprah video were made by people who have never learned this amazing skill of learning from anywhere. 

I choose to learn.  I learn from everyone I meet.  Life is better when you see everyone as having something valuable to offer the world.

Take that challenge and try it out.  See if things seem better and brighter and more awesome.

My who I want to be when I grow up vision board...

I have at home on the wall above my desk, a dream board, or vision board. I have taken images and words that convey what I hope for in life and taped them onto a poster board for me to look at every day.  This is not a new concept.  I have done dozens of these over the years.  Almost every training seminar I go to suggests surrounding yourself with the imagery of what you want in your world.
"What you surround yourself with, you become."



So... with that in mind.  I took on a challenge to define myself.  To try to become who I want to be. What is it that I want?

As I was listening to a training video by one of my role models (Chalene Johnson) she suggested drawing a picture of who you want to be.  What is the image you want to portray.  Well.... I drew my picture.  I hated it.  Mostly because I am a lousy artist.  But also because I can't capture in a single drawing every piece of me I want to envision. and how I want to see me.

I began asking myself, Who are my role models?  Who do I want to be like when I grow up?
I started making my list of who I admire and my list of amazing women grew and grew and grew.  I found I admired people, not because they were perfect, but because they were unique, had amazing qualities I could learn from.  I found myself picking more and more and more.  Of course it would be impossible to be ALL of these women wrapped into one.  I can only be ME... whatever that is.  In the meantime, I can seek after qualities I want to improve in me.

Here is my partial list of people that have attributes of what I want developed in me when I grow up...

Mother Teresa, Servant of God

Shawna Kaminski, Fitness professional over 50 and rocking her style

 Chalene Johnson : Fitness professional and Personal development coach and more.

Marjory Hinckley, Devoted wife, mother and support.  Humble, sweet and a great example of quiet leadership. Loved life and family and God.   

Meryl Streep - Talented and natural in a world of hypocrisy and falsehoods  She stands out as a queen in her profession. I love her natural beauty. 

 Malala Yusafzay-  faced death in the face and still didn't back down from the principles she believed in.  She was shot for it. (And survived)

I have Oprah and Condoleeza on here as strong beautiful people that lead in unique and seperate ways.  

Suze Orman went from broke to financial guru.

Ellen Degeneres for her humor, love of life and ability to make everyone feel special. Oh and mad dancing skillz.

Oh and who can forget my amazing Mom?  one of the most talented and inspiring women I have ever met in my life.  I would say that even if she weren't my mother. a mother of 10 kids and as faithful a lady you will ever find who still knows how to party when the time is right or not right...  (all those irreverent giggles in church.... and parodies of church songs....  sheesh....) 

And my list of amazing women could go on and on and on.... all the people I have met who have inspired me.  There are too many to put here. I find God has surrounded me with the most amazing people.  I find something in almost everyone I meet that I can take and learn from and try to better myself.  I want to be like a piece of all of them.

So There you have it.  A snapshot of the kinds of women I admire and want to reflect when I grow up.  I want to be a great mom and wife and daughter of God.  I want to be generous and kind and seek to serve.  I want to be fun, and dance and smile and help others to do the same.  I want to be smart and lead and make changes.  I want to be fearless in the face of death when it comes to standing up for what I believe in.  I want to inspire people to change their lives.  I want to be strong and fit and healthy.    I want to be remembered as honest, kind and loving.  I want people to know me as a servant of God and having loved mankind.  I want to have done all I could do to make this world a better place to live in for future generations.
I know I cannot be all these people.  I will be Me.  I will be the best version of me I can be.  What that will look like on a picture???  I really don't know.  Certainly the photo I have here can't represent the whole me.  But it makes me giggle.  So it stays.

.  

I want to learn how to use Photoshop so I can put my face on this picture.

Who do you want to be when you grow up?  

What does your picture look like?