A Raggedy Doll No More

Dear Treasured Friends,

Things have been so busy since the show launched, I haven't had as much time as I'd like to write and put things together. But I wanted to share this with you, because it's something that touched me so much the first time I read it, and it still means a great deal to me.

This is a poem by Celestine Davis Todd, who was one of the winners of the Beauty Live makeovers. Celestine has had to overcome so much, and she has done it by looking to God. Over a month has passed since Beauty Live, and I know that the pampering and TLC she got that day, the friends she made, and the love she felt made a difference for her.

 I was so moved to find this poem enclosed with the rest of Celestine's application because it showed me that she hasn't given up. It showed me that she knew that she had been through a lot and that she was dealing with challenges. But it also showed me that these things had not overtaken her, and that she could really use the rest and relaxation that we got to give her. And she did! She and the rest of the winners are still in touch, and they will always be able to share with each other and support each other.

I'm very lucky to be as busy as I am this year. I am living my dream, not just at home as a mommy and a wife but in my professional life as well. But I'm going to make sure that this year I carve out time to share with you about how important it is to believe in yourself, to treasure yourself, and to remember that, no matter your difficulties or challenges, you are worth so much.

With love,

Pat

Realizing A Dream

Today I'm writing a post for you that I never knew I'd get to write. I hoped that I would. I prayed that I would. I prayed hard that I would. But last Friday, after wrapping the first week of D: The Broadcast, I felt led to share my story and encourage you to believe in your dreams. 

I've wanted to be a television host since I was a little girl. I grew up imagining it. I would practice it in the mirror. I studied the people on local and national news who did it well. And when I finished up at school and moved to Los Angeles, I felt like I would get there soon. 

Was I wrong!

Dreams don't exist in a vacuum. Even though most people hold their dreams close and protect them, they are still part of life, and sometimes life does not cooperate. It can weigh you down. It can distract you. It can make dreams seem far away. And for me, as I was escaping from one marriage, entering into another and blending our families, and watching my hubby Emmitt build a second career for himself after football, my dreams didn't just seem far away. Sometimes, they seemed impossible. 

But God knows our dreams too, and He knows what he has planned for us. It might not make sense every minute of every day, but He has a way of pointing us in the right direction, of bringing us toward our true purpose. I sometimes lost sight of that, and I would forget to listen. But when I listened to God, when I cleared away all the distractions and outside voices and really found the time to hear Him, He would bring me a little bit closer.  

Today, this morning, I got there. It took a long time, a lot longer than I'd ever expected, but I got there. But last night, I had a thought about that. As I was thinking about how long it took for me to get to this moment, with butterflies in my stomach because I was thinking about the start of D: The Broadcast, I found that it really didn't matter how long it had taken me to accomplish my goal. There was a lot of frustration in those years. There was a lot of joy. There were good times and there were bad times. There were new things and there were challenges. But in the end, the number of hours, days, and years it took really didn't matter. That's what is so incredible and powerful about dreams! If someone had told me when I was back home in Virginia that it would take 20 years for my dreams to come true, I wouldn't have cared about the 20 years. The important thing is that I would get there! 

I never let go of my dreams. I kept hoping. I kept praying. I kept working. I kept going. And you should too.  

Valentine's Day 2013

Hi Everybody!  What a whirlwind 2013 has been for me. I have been working on new Treasure You programs, speaking for women's groups, raising my family, and soon my new TV show project launches! Now, I'm ready to get back to blogging and I'd love to start by talking about a certain holiday that's coming up!!! How many of you are hopeless romantics? At this time of the year, there are so many expectations around Valentine's Day that we sometimes lose sight of loving ourselves. Valentine's Day can be very distracting. Instead of focusing on the love and the care that are at the heart of this day, we get all bogged down in what we think we need. And it happens to everybody! Even I have struggled in my past. If you're with someone, it's way too easy to stress out planning an expensive evening. If you're single, you have to deal with all those ads for diamonds, flowers, chocolates and all the rest of it! It's enough to make everybody feel miserable on what's supposed to be a positive holiday! And when I say everybody deals with this in some way, I do mean everybody. Earlier this week, I was catching up with a friend and the topic of Valentine's Day came up. I was so surprised when she cut me off! "I don't want to talk about that!" she said. "I'm single right now and I don't even want to think about it." Now, this girlfriend of mine has so much going for her - she is beautiful, and she is successful. She is kind and she is smart. And yet she was letting this one little holiday get her down! It really reminded me how much power Valentine's Day has, but it also reminded me how many people look at it the wrong way. My girlfriend, and really everybody, should be using this week's holiday to love and treasure themselves! That doesn't mean you should cancel your date if you've got one, but it means that you should make sure you spend some part of the day treating yourself. Maybe that means a massage, or some chocolate, or maybe even a little present to yourself. That present could even be the gift of time! If you feel like you need more time to listen to God, more time with your family, or even just time to get away and bring some stillness to your life, give yourself that hour or two on Thursday.  You deserve to treasure yourself.

I'm going to be tweeting little ideas for how you can treasure yourself on Thursday. If you have any suggestions, tweet them to me or leave them here as a comment!