Now and again you meet someone that really makes an impression on you. Sometimes you get to shake that person by the hand and tell them, sometimes your lives connect in a brief moment and you may never get the chance to tell them the impact they have had on you… and they will never know they leave a legacy in your life and who you become, because of them.
I was in America last week. I was at a business conference, and in 2 and a half days there must have been easily over 30 presenters – some sharing the stage together, others only up there for a few minutes. In each session there was some great learning and out of them all, there was one lady I know I will never forget. She stood behind the podium – was clearly not used to being on a training stage, and yet she impacted me. She is the first person I think of when I scan back over all I heard in those amazing days.
What did she say? She told her story. She shared just 4 slides – all photos of her at different times. When she began, I couldn’t listen to what she was saying – I was absorbed just trying to process the image on the screen before me. It was like a screen shot from TV – from one of those programes about people who are morbidly obesce. People who are so overweight they can barely move and so you don’t see them out in public. It was one of those images that make me feel sad, and sick and compassionate all at the same time.
That was Hattie just 3 years ago. She told us how she had struggled with her weight since childhood, how she was bullied because of it, how by the end of High School she weighed 300 lbs. She told us of other life events that had a real impact on her and her will to live. How she got to the point where she was in so much emotional pain that she was literally eating to die, and by age 31, was well on her way, weighing over 500lbs.
She told us what happened that broke her negative, death-locked spiral. She told us how she used the RESET program and quality nutritional supplements to support her forming new food habits…and how, bit by bit she fought to stay alive.
It was one of those stories that if I had read about, or seen on TV I may well have questioned in the back of my mind. And yet there she was, real and radiant. She looked nothing like those first images – there was over 300lbs less of her – she was standing on the stage before me, ALIVE and thriving.
Me (on the left) connecting with Hattie the day after she told her story
People like her resonate with me, inspire me, and encourage me. I love her courage, her honesty, her openess and her willingness to journey to change. I was stirred by her hope, her tenacity, her warrior spirit. Yes, I think it is her will to fight for life; life to the full, life the way she dreams, a life that really impacts on many, many others; a life with a legacy.
She has left a legacy in my life… what about you? Leave a comment and let’s keep talking…
Oh, and she was one of those people I just had to make sure I got to meet, shake by the hand and thank her for the gift of her story in my life.
You can read more of Hattie’s story here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/13/weight-loss-success-hattie-montgomery_n_1257265.html
