OK…so you know how I keep telling you all that God is talking to me and putting people and things right in plain sight, so I better be paying attention??? Well…it just happened AGAIN! I just got home from a run club event. A book signing. Sounds innocent enough, possibly boring to some, am I right? In fact, I admit that I have not yet read the book. I had skimmed it, but was just looking forward to a little time out of the house for the most part. So I drove to Spirit Knob Winery in Ursa, IL, thinking that I would have a nice glass of wine and enjoy the company of my running friends and get to hear an author talk about her book. When I got there, I bought the book, and as I go up there to actually meet Amy Marxkors, the author of The Lola Papers, my friend Karen encouraged me to tell her my “story”. So I summarized my last 4 years into a VERY short few sentences, and she responded nicely, and I figured that was my brush with fame with her for the day and I took my seat to wait for her to finish signing and start her speech.
What happened next was TOTALLY unexpected!!!
WOW! I honestly think God brought her here to talk to me. To once again remind me that I have to fight through my fears and step out of my comfort zone to get to MY “place” in life. She talked about being confident and thinking that you are always the best at everything you do.
She nearly had me in tears a couple of times when I felt she was reaching straight out an talking to me. Then she talked about her 3 mottos. The first one, I believe is going to by my new mantra:
1 – Tickle the Dragon! Comes from her coach “Mr Speedypants” telling her, “If you can’t take the heat, then don’t tickle the dragon.” I LOVE THIS! This said to me, “Have the confidence in yourself to go after what you want even when it is scary and hard. Losing 115# was HARD, and I did that! What MORE can I do???
2 – If you think…you’re dead! This is from Top Gun when Maverick was saying that you don’t have time to think, because if you don’t JUST DO IT! and you over-analyze EVERYTHING, you are dead. This to me said STRAIGHT UP, if I am going to do this, the time is NOW! Don’t keep second guessing yourself. Do the work and GO FOR IT! The time is NOW!
3 – Buzz the Tower! Another Top Gun reference:) When Maverick requested a flyby of the tower and was denied. He did it anyway EVERY time and made the guy spill his coffee. This one also spoke to me. Even if someone tells me that I CAN’T live my life BIG, I have to believe that it is the right thing to do and simply DO IT ANYWAY!
Amy got me running SO MANY questions through my mind all at once. Things like:
So what if I don’t go forward with my dreams?
What if I stop right now and just say, “It is just too hard!”
What if I choose not to follow my passion?
Then I got to thinking. What if I don’t and I miss helping even ONE person that I was meant to help. What if I am someone’s “Amy”, or “Mr Bentley”, or “Mr Jackson”, or “Stace”, or “Mark”….????? And since I honestly think she was here to tell(or teach) me something, who am I to not listen and learn?
So happy I had a place to share this. I keep thinking I am GOING to make a difference, but someone tonight told me that I already was. I am truly blessed and I think I am being shown the way to the path for me to share all I have learned with others. Making my passion my LIFE:)
B3T Books and Biceps 