Now is the time, and this is the place that I would like to share with you what inspires me to do what I do. I am going start by sharing my favorite quote from Nelson Mandela, because I feel that it speaks volumes about what I want to share with you here and also about how we are all connected. So here goes:
Our worst fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, “Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God; your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us. It is not just in some of us, it is in everyone, and as we let our light shine we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
I don’t think that there is anything that I could say that would sum things up any better than that, but what I would like to do is to take that message and run with it here.
I have been away from the business of acting for the last year due to the fact that I was diagnosed with Cancer.
To make a long and very complicated story short I will begin by telling you that after I was misdiagnosed three times, and after three different operations (one of which my lung was accidentally punctured and collapsed), I was told that my biopsy results determined that I had a malignant sarcoma attached to my chest wall.
On November 15, 2010 I underwent a full excision of all of the surrounding muscle and tissue in that area. It is now six months later, and just yesterday I had my half yearly follow up visit with my thoracic surgeon and everything looks beautiful!
I am so incredibly excited not only to be returning to my passion, but also to be connecting with all of you.
I feel truly blessed to have the opportunity to live my dream, and also to share that this experience has made my commitment even deeper than it was before in every aspect of my life.
If telling my personal story can help anyone who is going through tough times in this world to know that you are not alone, then I have accomplished what I set out to do by living my purpose.