If you have ever been on a hospital bed and unsure about what tomorrow holds, are fighting a terminal disease or have watched a loved one die, you might have an idea of what it means to have a passion for life. That “appetite for life” can transform your pain into a learning tool.

Remember that, as Steve Jobs eloquently said:

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice."

When you realize this, you become limitless!

I feel as though I’m pursuing a PhD from “the university of life”. The program is not always gentle but it is profound in all its teachings. The more lessons I learn, the more I am reminded that I am alive and that’s all that matters.

I think when we want change, we need to seek the drive to initiate change, that first step!

Does it take time? Yes. It took me 10 years to change from a woman who lived in shame for all of the things that I was not, who felt I was a disappointment to my church, my father and my ancestors, for not being married or having kids (through no fault of my own). I am now a woman who is proud of who I am.

How did I get here? Through the gift of study, time, introspection, therapy, healing and love of friends and family who saw me as not with a societal label but as the person I am.