I have often wondered why I and so many other people are so attracted to Oprah Winfrey – a black overweight woman who does not fit the stereotype of what success is meant to look like. Or what we have been conditioned to think success is meant to look like. Yet she has shattered that image to the nth degree and has touched many hearts and changed many lives along the way.
So how does a poor black girl with little to no direction from the backwoods of Mississippi and a strange name become one of the most admired and one of the wealthiest women in the world?
Watching the Facebook interview with Oprah last night, the answer hit me and I decided to dedicate this blog to that very answer. The reason why Oprah is and will continue to be successful despite her background, despite her physical shortcomings, despite her weird name is because she uses every day of her life to learn more about herself and better herself and in this way she can radiate the best of herself to the rest of us.
She is the image of possibility. She believes that everything that has happened in her life has made her the person that she is today. She has never thought of herself as a victim. She has embraced where she has come from and as a result she has learned to be empathetic, caring and able to relate to people of all walks of life. Why? Because somewhere along her life she has been one of those people who cross her path. She knows their pain and has overcome it.
Oprah said that each one of us should be asking ourselves every day, “What would I do if I was not afraid?”That is a profound question and one that many of us neglect to ask ourselves because sometimes it’s easier to live in fear and to continue on the same path that we have always been on even though we get no satisfaction from it. Imagine if all of us woke up every day and asked ourselves this question how fundamentally different we would all be and how we could change the world overnight with this mindset.
Oprah believes that when the answer comes to you about what you would do if you were not afraid that we should go for it. This is the only way that we can ever be who we are meant to be. It is the only tool that allows people to see the better of their lives. She believes we all know there is something greater calling our names and what we need is faith and hope to achieve ultimately what we are meant to achieve.
Now I know and understand why I admire Oprah and it is because she epitomises “the true and authentic self” and as a result her light radiates into her hearts and souls. She is one of our modern day prophets and she continues to school herself and us with the life lessons that come her way. She says and I believe we should carry this statement in our hearts, “It does not matter how you came into this world. It matters that you are here.”
And how does she remind herself, she says, “I Have a belief in something that is bigger than myself. No what matter what, I will be all right. I know a bigger picture is guiding me and leading me forward.”
It is up to all of us to matter and not just exist because we have been given the gift of life. Not all of us will be Oprah or Bill Gates or Steve Jobs or Beyonce or whomever you idolise but what we can be is our authentic best selves. And who knows where that will take us.
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