The Glow: How the Journey to Fulfilling Your Purpose Begins Within

As a child, I struggled with low self-esteem and allowed other people's opinion of me to shape how I saw myself. I spoke with confidence at times, but deep down I always felt it was all talk. By the time I made it to high school, I was an expert at trying to fit in and hiding my self-doubt. I had finally figured out how to cope with low self-esteem, until my guidance counselor asked, "what are your plans when you leave here?" I told her I was going to college, but I could tell by the look on her face, she had serious doubts. It was at this time I learned my cumulative grade-point-average (GPA) was 1.973, and my class rank was 261 of 264. This was my wake-up call.

I completed high school, successfully navigated college, and six months after graduating, I finally landed an entry-level position as a Sales Representative with Hormel Foods, Foodservice Division. Initially I feared if I would last one year, but that was over twenty years ago and I am still here. Though Hormel is a great company, and I learned a lot over the years, I have always felt like something was missing. I could not explain it, but life was beginning to feel like a prison. I grew frustrated with Hormel and often thought about quitting my job. The problem was, quit and do what? Then one day, I was asked to speak to a group of freshman students at Dillard University on Personal Branding. After giving that presentation, I walked off of the stage standing tall because I finally knew what I wanted to do. They say the two most important days in our lives are the day we are born, and the day we find out why! I now knew why I was born, but I did not know the how. Hormel was never the problem, I was!

How do I move forward? I began reading more books, listening to Audiobooks on Audible instead of music and talk radio while driving. Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich is still one of my favorites. I began listening to Les Brown videos on YouTube. They would often lead to other videos by people like Jim Rohn, Earl Nightingale, and James Allen. As I continued to venture through YouTube, I came across videos by Dr. Myles Munroe. His teachings were so spot on, and the more I understood why I had to write "The Glow".

We all have different experiences in life, different successes, and different failures. It is because we are human. However, it is not the successes and failures we should be focused on, but what we have learned from them; and how others may benefit from our story. I wrote this book because I once believed I was average. I once believed no one cared about my story, nor my experiences, because I had no major accomplishments or riches to show for it. I could not have been more wrong!

The Glow represents the things I have learned by trial, error, success, failure, and through listening to that still voice that has been quietly guiding me for my entire life. The original title for this book was "Right Now", but in the process of writing it, it reminded me of a film from my childhood. I realized the similarities in the journey of Leroy Green, Jr. (Bruce Leroy), from the movie "The Last Dragon", and my journey. We both arrived at the same conclusion. We were already in possession of the very thing we were in search of, our gift, purpose and fulfillment. Your gift is not something you find, it is something you reveal. We are born with a gift, and the purpose for that gift was given to each of us before the foundations for earth were laid. You can never lose it because it is inside of you. There are no ordinary people, we are all extraordinary. Through the revelation of our gifts, and understanding the purpose for that gift, is the only way to live a fulfilled life. It is the secret to finding your Glow!