Last year I watched a news interview of a young girl who accidentally drove her car off a bridge into a lake of water. After fighting to get out of the car, she climbed onto a buoy and waited. Once saved, the reporters asked, “What’s the first thing you said to your rescuers.” I cried at her answer, because even though I am nearly twenty years her senior, my response would have been the same, “Call my Mama!” Anybody with a mother like hers—and mine—understands.
Next Sunday is Mother’s Day, a time to celebrate the women in our lives. Today, I’d like to share some of the things I’ve learned from my “Mama,”—Ezzie B. Scott. Her wisdom and her strength sustain me through all the ups and downs of my life. She can frustrate and confound me…but one thing is for sure, nobody loves me like she does.
Here are the words of my mother that have helped me to endure the emotional and spiritual winters of my life and I hope will do the same for you:
1. It’s just as easy to tell the truth as it is to tell a lie: Growing up, I had a problem with lying. I often found ways to get myself into trouble and many times, lying just seemed like a good way to get out. Nothing would anger my mother more than me “looking her in her face and lying!” I often lied because at the time it felt easier. But the truth has a property that a lie doesn’t hold—when we acknowledge and tell it, we open the door to freedom. I often say that the power of the blackmailer is that they can tell your secret. We must learn how to be honest, even when it’s painful. It is the only road that leads to wholeness.
2. Be Yourself: Many people grow up hearing that phrase, but my mother lives it. She knows who she is and accepts herself. Growing up, there were times I cringed at her sense of self. I remember school shopping in a department store once. A pair of linen slacks caught my eye, though I knew she wouldn’t buy them. But I wanted to faint when she loudly announced to me—and the other shoppers—that I “might as well put it back, because (she wasn’t spending) that much money! I worried that people might mistakenly think we couldn’t afford it. She didn’t care what anyone else thought about her decision. It is times like those that taught me to carefully weigh and measure the impact I allow others’ opinions to have on me.
3. You can do anything if you try: My mother’s “can do” attitude makes me shake my head on occasion. Like when she insists that if I try hard enough, I can do “just as good of a job” with my make-up as the EMMY award-winning professionals who do it for me. Or, the time she looked at my book cover and told me that she could do the same thing with Word! But despite those assertions that I can’t subscribe to, her unconquerable spirit inspires me daily. Though I am often tempted, I don’t give up because she taught me that all I have to do is outlast adversity.
Do Your Work: Tweet me some of your mother’s sayings at @AskCoachFelicia.
Define Your Wealth: Affirm out loud, “I embrace, celebrate and apply wisdom in my life!”
Named the “North America’s Next Greatest Speaker” by eWomenNetwork, Coach Felicia is a Certified Empowerment Coach™ who empowers her clients to “Turn their Worth into Wealth” as she partners with them to DISCOVER their WORTH, DO the WORK and DEFINE their WEALTH. Get more insight, download the FREE “8 Choices Winners Must Make” seminar MP3 on her website.