I believe that at any moment each one of us is on the verge. You may be on the verge of tears or of laughter, buying a house, changing jobs, retiring, adopting a pet; it could be almost anything. But for purposes of this post, I want to propose that—right at this very moment—you are on the verge of stepping into your own personal greatness. What is personal greatness? It’s different for each of us, so I would like to share a quick story about my own experience before we move on.

For those of you who follow my blog, you know that I wrote a book, but what you don’t know is the back story. You see, when I pitched my original idea to a seasoned publisher, he listened intently before asking a question that set me back on my heels. “Why you, Christina? What’s your expertise?” My thoughts immediately spun out of control, because it felt as though he had punched me. People write books all the time. Not every one of them is an expert on their topic, are they? I didn’t want to write a novel. I wanted to write about my experiences because I wanted to save others from the mistakes I made along the way. It was important to me. For days after that conversation, I was completely distracted. “Why me?” played into every not-good-enough-worth-less thought I ever entertained.  His question paralyzed me.

The good news is, the following week, I met a woman who looked me square in the eye and asked, “Why NOT you?” It was as though a bolt of lightning blasted through the top of my head. I heard her. The very next day I began writing.

Now that you know my story, I would like to ask you a question. Has there ever been a moment in your life when someone’s off-hand remark paralyzed you for a moment and made you feel small and just plain silly for believing your dream is possible? Sadly, so many of us (including me) get caught up in the mucky mire of emotions—especially when it comes to following our dream. I had a thought about this the other day that I would like to share with you.

In my book (the one I finished despite my initial set-back), I talk a lot about being open to another perspective. When people ask me what it means to be open, I’ve given a long-winded explanation, but the other day I realized that being open is merely this: using your curiosity! It’s really just that simple. I believe curiosity changes the dynamic. Why? If you stop and think about looking at a difficult situation from the past, the average person will shake their head and say, “I want to leave the past in the past.” Usually, that translates to the fact that there is a story there, and they are afraid. But when you consider looking at the past with curiosity, suddenly the whole idea sounds more like play. With curiosity, the process of self-discovery can be likened to turning over rocks on the playground when you were a kid. It was exciting because you never knew what you would uncover!

I know from experience that there is great joy in exposing the root of the stories that had been holding me back from finally stepping into the life I desired. Were there tears along the way? Absolutely. But there was a heck of a lot more laughter! It was fun, and I am confident it can be the same for you.

The world needs each of us to shine our own individual light now more than ever before. Together we can get your light shining as bright as I know it will. Over the next few weeks, I’m going to explore what it means to be open and curious on the journey of changing your life through self-discovery. I hope you are as curious as I am to see what’s next.  Thank you for joining me!