Dear Shonda Rhimes
I'm reading a book. Actually I read A LOT of books. Like usually 2-5 at a time. But my present favorite is this:
I learned of this book while looking through Instagram search results for #introvertedextrovert (that's me btw). I don't know what to do with all the joy, the tears, and the laughter that this book brings out for me! 😊☺️🤣😭I want to share my gratitude with Ms Rhimes, but I don't know how to get a message to her. Instead I will just share my feelings openly here and let the universe feel my love. 🙏🏽
Dear Shonda Rhimes,
"Year of Yes" is one of my favorite books EVER. I kid you not. Never in my life have I found another being so like me, in you. It's like you have been inside of my head! Do you know how odd it is to read your own story, written out by someone else, and they tell it even better than you could say it yourself? It is weird...and amazing.
The only reason I am having this amazing experience of gasping out loud, smiling, laughing and then crying tears of relating and joy as I read your book is because you made a decision, took action, and stopped hiding who you were. You decided to try saying "yes" to life for a while, and it changed everything. You are now sharing all of your glorious inner shenanigans and craziness. Revealing that which you formerly worked so hard to hide is bringing joy to similar folks like me. 🙏🏽You are making me feel not so crazy and not so alone in my former hiding, and I'm incredibly grateful for you being you.
I had a transformative experience in the summer of 2014 as well and my life has been forever changed. (See...summer of 2014 just like when your transformation began. I'm telling you our paths are oddly parallel!) My details were different, but very similar life changing effects. I too know that it's a slippery slope back to living again in the "can goods closet" and so I persist living out loud. Alive and vibrant, daring to be my full self.
I've never watched an episode of Grey's Anatomy (yet), but I'm incredibly heart-swellingly-grateful for the experience of reading your words in this book.
Ever grateful,
Me
(Image credit Shonda Rhimes)
Ps- also purchased the journal that goes with the book. Amazing! 🙏🏽❤️
Pss- this is me saying "yes!" And living out loud 🤗👇🏼
Ya gotta fake it until you make it. We give this advice to patients who come in for therapy all the time. Most changes feel unnatural at first, so you have to start by faking it.
I know that is standard therapy approach. But I tried that. Really, REALLY tried that for decades and all I gained was to become a master at faking.
I'm now a transformed healed woman, and the path to wellness for me was the opposite. stopping the faking. Dropping what I thought I "should" be, and instead revealing my flaws my fears and my vulnerability. Finding centeredness in my truth.
Great post, thanks for sharing your experience. I love finding new ways of thinking that remove a few shackles so I'll have to check this out.
Oh...what a great way to say it. "Remove a few shackles..." exactly! Thanks and thanks for commenting. :)
My pleasure, your post is inspiring! I love the picture of Rhonda's quote "the very act of doing the thing that scared me, undid the fear". It's very Susan Jeffers! I need to get back into that space cause fear has been kicking my ass in a couple of particular parts of my life. Thank You!
Oh my god !! I've read this recently as well and it's one of my favorites , I was just talking about it in my class last week :D
Isn't it amazing? I don't want the book to end. Glad it resonated with you too and thank you for commenting.
The last several posts you've made, and those that Sean have made of you, you have a glow about you, so I am saying "Yes" and I don't even know what the question is. Now was that me flirting? Hell, I don't know, but Yes.
Thank you, that's very kind! He has chased me with his camera for decades so my photos are from a wide range of life phases. The older ones with longer hair, I was lovely, but there is no glow. I was still scared then and hiding...literally always hiding my face in those older shots. Good noticing.
Seem to be an interesting book! I use to know her name from some TV-series, I guess you know which I mean.
The positivity of her is barely feelable in your words! Need to check this out. Thank you for the recommendation :)
I never watched Grey's Anatomy too :D
Saying YES to everything?
Are you sure?
Does that sound scarey to you, or are you flirting with me...? ☺️
I'm not saying I'm going to say yes to everything. I'm saying "thank you" to Ms Rhimes because, like her, I HAVE said yes to life for the last 3 years. It's freaking transformative if previously you lived like a mouse in hiding. ✌🏾
Optimism aligns us with joy and development and we are open more when we say yes. I love your photos. You are full of life. You are very beautiful. Keep shinning. Keep going. Keep saying yes. Keep reading. Keep sharing. You are truly wonderful.
Thanks so very much 🙏🏽 For taking the time to write a comment that made me smile and for resteeming me.
Looks like a good read. I need to do more of it but time has always been a constraint and I'm a slow reader. I much prefer blogs, vlogs and articles to absorb as much information as quickly as possible
We all have our favorite intake methods. I like blogs vlogs et al as well, but it calms my brain first thing after waking and then again late at night to focus on one thing and just read a book. Or when traveling.
And...you just revealed a very enneagram type 5 trait there 👆🏼and I love it. The desire to "absorb as much information as quickly as possible." 5's are typically gluttons for information. It is their THING...their drug...there is never enough. And relatedly time is what they are most frugal with and careful not to waste.
YES TO EVERYTHING! :)
I have watched her TED talk and it surely brought out a lot of optimism all over the world. YES YES YES!!!(ง^ᗜ^)ง
Keep on Steemin'!
(๑>◡<๑)
(you gained a new follower and an upvote. :D)
Thanks @yukimaru. Will watch her TED after I finish the book. Probably some Grey's anatomy too ;)
oh you should watch her TED talk.. very inspiring!! Yes to life indeed! :)