Story Shot
I decided to take a break from my branding series because I was inspired to share this with you this week. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it...
An Excerpt From "Different Doesn't Mean Broken"
I first started working on my first book in the spring of 2021. I was in a personal development and leadership program that required me to set a big hairy audacious goal that I would be expected to complete before the end of the program. Ironically, I would later realize the reason the universe put that program in my path was so I could face my fear and find the courage to acknowledge, accept, embrace and take ownership of my authentic identity by coming out as nonbinary. Absent that knowledge at the time, I called my shot. I committed to writing 60 pages of my future book.
It wasn't easy and it wasn't pretty but I did it. I wrote 60 pages of thoughts and feelings that lived in the internet in the form of a Google Doc for three long years.
Then, I met Dr. Benjamin Hardy at Russell Brunsons' Mastermind in Paradise in the summer of 2023. I had the pleasure of chatting with him briefly backstage where he broke my brain with this statement from his book Be Your Future Self Now:
“
Research now shows that a person’s past does not drive or dictate their actions and behaviors. Rather, we are pulled forward by our future.
— Dr. Benjamin Hardy
He gifted me copies of his books which I promptly read in the order he recommended. That winter I joined his Mastermind program where he consistently challenged me both personally and professionally. At the end of that wonderful experience I called my shot once again when I told Emily that 2024 would be the year of the book. I committed to dusting off those 60 pages and using them as the foundation for my first published work.
This time I hired a professional writing coach and publisher to ensure I made it across the finish line...and I did. In November, just 11 months after committing to the goal, I published my first book.
Since I am sharing my thoughts and feelings with you each week as a way to inspire, educate and motivate you I feel as though occasionally sharing some of my favorite excerpts with you just makes sense. This is from the book's intro and it is a little insight into how much I appreciate each and every person that reads what I write.
Different Doesn't Mean Broken
...Amidst all of our beautiful differences, we are united in the common desire to be the authors of our own story. We’re all hoping for the freedom to tell the world who we are and the confidence to protect what we want… the conviction to defy permission and the courage to disregard expectation.
I’ve met some remarkable people and learned extraordinary lessons on my journey from conformity to authenticity. I learned there’s freedom on the other side of fear. I learned that I’m special and unique (just like everyone else). I learned that other people’s opinions are none of my business. I learned that I never need to apologize for who I am. I learned that I don’t need to be fixed just because I’m different. And I learned that different doesn’t mean broken.
And yet, I still ache for a world where we don’t need to be courageous to be who we truly are.
Despite how far I’ve come and all the things I’m proud to have accomplished, I still have oodles to learn. There’s also plenty I still want. I want you to believe in yourself and to know that you’re enough. I want you to know that you matter and that you’re valuable beyond measure. I want you to love yourself unconditionally. I want you to live your life authentically and unapologetically. More than anything though, I want you to want all of this, and more, for yourself.
Next Week: A bit more on branding
