It has taken me a while to muster the courage to compose this particular blog. This is the first and most critical of a series of post where I hope others can learn from my mistakes and successes. This is a unique post to the passionate entrepreneur. This post is not about lists, how to’s, latest apps and business tools. I am sure I will lose many of you right here. No, this is about life. I am writing this to my friends, family and colleagues. You have taught me so much and given me the tools to succeed. Really, in many ways you have saved my life. I hope this helps save many of yours.
When attending and teaching at Sellabration 2012, I had a chance to spend time with my friend Brain Copeland then sit down later with a dear friend Jason O’Neil. I was a little “whiny” about the business to both friends. Jason listened and asked me a few poignant questions. He made one statement that changed everything. He said, “When you get tired other people get stupid.” That rocked my soul. I was tired! And I thought the business was stupid, my clients were annoying and other Realtors needed to grow up!
I am usually a very happy person and love life and I did not like myself feeling a “little burnt out.” I knew the only person who can change this was me. So I flew home, took a wonderful vacation and thought it was time to get in shape physically, spiritually and mentally. I am also a Registered Nurse so I knew what I “should do”. First stop, and probably the easiest, get an eye exam. On February 21, 2013, during the “easy” routine eye exam, I was told I had a deadly rare cancer. They called it Ocular Melanoma and it spreads to your liver. What the heck!!!!
My husband and I were catatonic with fear. Except for being a little burned out, I felt great, NO SYMPTOMS of anything. They had to be wrong! How could this be happening, I am too young to die. The heightened sense of awareness of that day is still very vivid in my mind; my husband eyes, the loudness of my lungs expanding, the smell of Cat scans and hospital gowns, the extreme slow motion of every second and every moment. Then there this strange notification, literally seconds after my diagnosis my phone goes off with a notification “your Klout Score has dropped”. Are you kidding me, who cares!!! That was a defining moment. I realized what a fool I had been in my professional life. The things that I focused on that really did not matter. Worst yet, I was teaching others to focus on those things too. Klout Score!! Give me a break! The Klout score at that moment represented everything ridiculous that I thought was important. One of the other major lessons I quickly learned was Facebook can not bring you chicken noodle soup.
I am doing very well now and plan to live a long time. I am doing everything to stay alive and live, really live! The fear of this particular cancer spreading will be with me the rest of my life. However, right now I am winning and cancer is losing! My life is wonderful. But I believe I would not have been in this situation if I had done a few things differently. So to my dear colleagues, friends and family consider your health as much or more than your business. You, your clients, your family and business will benefit.
I wish I would have:
I wish I would have -Turned my phone off every night at a certain time and every Sunday all day. And I should have kept the ringer off and let my voicemail give me a life. This would have relieved my stress and those around me, especially my family and friends. When your phone rings they know they have lost your attention even when you do not answer. Constant stress is now proven to cause both cancer and heart disease.
I wish I had not taken my business so damn serious. When they told me I might die I did not think of my clients or the next technology I might want to try. I thought of my family, I thought of sitting on the porch, I thought of close friends. I thought about heaven and how I might get there. Ok, I did for a brief moment think “I am going to eat all the cheesecake I want now.”
I wish I had told a few clients “NO I can not help you”. They took my heart and my soul. I cannot get that back. And I let them. That was my fault!
I should have slept more instead of staying up all night reading, researching and playing with new apps. Sleep repairs the cells, rejuvenates the mind and helps you lose weight. I still do this occasionally with a very special friend, because we have fun! Fun is healthy! (most of the time)
I wish I had laughed more. Real Estate is a funny business. Humor has been proven to cure illness. If your business does not have fun moments, make fun moments. At least watch something funny every day. I want more Leigh Browns in my life, the funniest CRS agent I know.
I wish I had Juiced at least three to four times a week. In addition, taking wheatgrass shots whenever you can. I know it is gross but get over it. Juicing delivers vitamins, mineral and protein to your body in a way it is easily used. It is also great for your complexion. It might even prevent cancer.
I wish I would have eaten a plant based diet, it is proven to reverse heart disease and reduce tumor size in some cancers. It also reduces the risk of diabetes and obesity. Wow, why did I not know that???
I wish I would have given up sugar and reduced certain carbohydrates in my diet years ago. The studies in this area are just now reaping amazing data. Watch for it, it may save your life and reduce inflammation in your body that causes all types of disease.
I wish I had taken my health as serious as I have taken entrepreneurship. I was always too busy. Plus nothing was ever going to happen to me. Right!!
I wish I had watched “Forks over Knives” and “Hungry for Change” I wish I had read Crazy, Sexy Diet, by Kriss Karr (great entertaining writer). I wish I had taken more interest in sites like, http://www.mindbodygreen.com/wc/kris-carr
I wish I had lunch with Tina Daniels, friend and CRS Instructor, during Sell-a-bration last year. I loved Tina! She was real, humble and smart. She made me feel happy. We were supposed to have lunch but I was too busy. How foolish of me. I was in a hospital bed recovering from one of my surgeries when I received a text that Tina had passed away. My heart hurt so bad I could not stand it. Tina I am sorry I did not have lunch with you. Maybe we could have discussed our health in the business of Real Estate and saved your life. So this blog is for you. Maybe someone will listen and make a change in their lives to improve their health and decrease the stress this business can sometimes bring. Tina, maybe we can help save one of our CRS family’s lives.
So there you have it. I could continue this list but that is enough for now. There is so much more to say and so much more of life to live!! Thanks to my colleagues, family, friends and staff, especially Jason O’Neil for taking time to have a glass of wine, Jackie Leavenworth who ran to me instead away from me when I was sick, really sick. She had amazing providential timing. I treasure your friendship. Richard Waystack who has been a constant prayer warrior and just a light of happiness. When he prays for you, you can feel it across the country. Lenny Harris who checks in to see how things are going often. He makes me laugh too. Troy Stavros who put me in his iPad on his calendar to pray everyday. That took my breath away. And, to the many others from who offered prayers for me, thank you.
Being a CRS agent and attending Sell-a-bration is definitely something I would do over again.
CRS family, be careful out there…it is not your competition that will hurt you.
