“Was I born to blue, born just to cry, born to be alone until the day I die?” Those are lyrics to the 90’s country western song, Born to Be Blue by The Judds. Many current and former foster kids can relate to those words. I know, because I used to be one of them.
For most of my life, I thought I was an accident of biology. As a child, I was told as much. But now, because of the seeds of hope planted by a foster family many years ago, I know now that there is an awesome purpose for my life, and I'm having a blast living it!
The great news is that every one of us can have an awesome life because the characteristics of awesomeness are already in us. That doesn’t mean that everything will always go perfectly and that we will always be happy. It does mean that we can experience awesomeness every day of our lives, regardless of our circumstances.
Most people don’t know what specifically contributes to having a great life, so they carry around aspects of awesomeness and aren’t even aware of it. They don’t act like the awesome people they truly are and the confident people they could be. Consequently, they miss out on the opportunity to live a great life and to enjoy all that comes along with it. Some people go through life with a chip (or a cement block) on their shoulders, eaten up by feelings of envy toward others who they think got the advantages that were not afforded to them. They feel like they were dealt a bad hand at the game of life; like they’re owed restitution by someone, somehow, but they go through life never quite able to figure out how and where to collect.
Those poor souls with the chips on their shoulders wish they’d been born into a loving family, or that Dad hadn’t left, or that Mom hadn’t lost her job. They wish they had gotten a better education, or that they’d had it as good as those kids who appeared to have all the advantages they didn't have. They wish... they wish... they wish...but none of those wishes will ever change their present reality. No one can go back in time and choose adifferent family through which to enter into life. No one can change where they grew up, what happened, or what they didn’t get. The good news is that awesomeness is not a prize awarded at birth to only a select few, never to be attained by anyone else. Awesomeness is attainable by each of us. Every one of us can embark immediately on a journey toward our own awesome lifestyle. It’s not complicated. But it does require a commitment to a shift in our attitudes and thoughts.
Each of us is able to identify those things that make us awesome. We can develop each characteristic of awesomeness by doing every step in this book until one day we realize that we’ve become who we want to be, and that we’re living the life we want to live. Somewhere along our journey we can brush the chips off our shoulders and see ourselves in a whole new light as the awesome people we are—the awesome people we were always meant to be! When that happens, no longer are we the ones left unchosen for the team. No longer must we stand at the sidelines like spectators, watching others play the game of life. No longer must we sit at home while others advance to greater levels of success.
My newest book, How To Get To AWESOME, identifies the 10 key characteristics that make people awesome. Readers will see themselves as they read the characteristics and descriptions of awesomeness. They'll see that they've had awesomeness inside all along, and they'll likely see areas that they can work on to become even more awesome. Along with each of the 10 characteristics of awesomeness, they will find practical guidance for developing those characteristics and for applying them in every area of their lives. This advice is broken down into 10 steps that will help them develop, strengthen, and hone each invaluable characteristic.
The great thing is that every step of the journey to awesome is an easy, free, and simply way that anyone can nurture their characteristics of awesomeness, and in so doing transform themselves and the quality of their lives.
Every one of us has a very special package of skills, talents, abilities, and characteristics that is unique in all the world. Once we arrive at an understanding of our awesomeness, we're able to get along with others better than ever before. Why? Because we're able to confidently communicate who we are, what we care about, and what makes us awesome. And, importantly, we're able to recognize and celebrate the awesomeness of others. This is the basis for collaboration and collective impact because it eliminates the need for competition among colleagues because people who are confident in themselves know that when awesome people join together, each person’s unique package of awesomeness beautifully fills the weak places of the other, allowing the two to accomplish more than either could on his or her own.
Awesome people don't feel badly about what they don’t do well because their focus is on their awesomeness, rather than on their perceived weaknesses. No longer do they envy the awesomeness of others because they know that each person’s special package of unique awesomeness is theirs and theirs alone. Awesome people know that each one of us is truly in a category of our own, not better or worse than anyone else, but unique and valuable, each in our own uniquely awesome way. Consequently, awesome people attract other awesome people like steel attracts magnets! To circle back to the place where I began this blog, that 90's country western song goes on to ask, "....or was I born to be loved, born to be kissed, born to find the one to show me what I missed." As a successful survivor of abandonment, abuse, poverty, homelessness, foster care, kinship care, betrayal, and more, I can confidently say that the 101 ways to find your best self that I share in How to Get To AWESOME will help everyone who reads and acts on them to embark on their journey to the destination to their own unique AWESOME life!
About the author: Rhonda Sciortino, author of How To Get To Awesome, used the coping skills from an abusive childhood to achieve real success which she measures by good relationships, good health, peace, joy, and financial prosperity. Through her writing, speaking, and media appearances, she shares how others can use the obstacles in their lives as stepping stones to their real success. Rhonda can be reached at her website HERE.
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