Today is the final broadcast of the Oprah Winfrey show. I’m not a regular Oprah viewer, but if something big happens (Tom Cruise’s mental breakdown couch surfing episode comes to mind) I’ll tune in during one of the re-runs. Last night I watched part 2 of the star-studded farewell tribute and thought about the influence that one woman has had on many lives and the effect that she has had on my own life.
Oprah’s often repeated and very memorable line of saying that if “a colored girl from Mississippi” could grow up to move from a home at the end of a dirt road with no running water, where colored and whites couldn’t drink from the same fountain, to become one of the most powerful women on television then there was nothing that women everywhere could not do, resonated with the small child that I was.
Here was a woman larger than life itself, being beamed across television sets across the entire world, and her beginnings were as humble as many of us that have share our stories of growing up poor. When Oprah said that if she could do it, then I could do it too, I believed her. I believed her because there was a warmth and genuine nature emanating from her that I felt as if she was speaking directly to me. I was that girl that could do it. I was the girl that could rise above. I was meant for a greater purpose than being a consumer of air and water. I too was meant for greatness.
So while this post has nothing to do with finance, it has to do with personal motivation. I encourage you all to find something or someone that you can connect with on more than a superficial level. Surround yourself with something or someone that can push you to go farther, be better, and do more than you think that you can. And when you think that you can’t make it, go back to that person or thing for a energizing motivational boost to carry you through until the next period of doubt.