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As Otto and I were sitting at the John Glenn Columbus International Airport waiting to board the plane to Denver for a vacation last September, he excitedly told me he’d just signed up for a personal growth workshop called Lamron (“normal” spelled backwards) in Scottsdale, AZ on February 1, 2024 led by Sachin Sharma.
I was pissed! The coaching school Otto’s enrolled in was expensive, not only because of the tuition but also it meant 3 trips to London from September 2023 to March 2024.
While I was completely supportive of this experience for him, but when it came to yet another trip, this time to Scottsdale for a long weekend, I thought it was too much of a drain on our finances.
I could have signed up myself but everything in me screamed “no.”
Although I knew it would be a fun thing to do with Otto, I didn’t want to spend the money that it would take for the tuition, plane fare and food.
Otto and I talked and he agreed he wouldn’t sign up for anything else without us talking about it first so I quickly got over my hissy fit.
Fast forward to this year in the middle of January–as Otto was making arrangements for the Scottsdale trip, he asked me to go with him because it would be a good experience for us to do together and that I could benefit from it.
Up until 2023, the two of us have done over 100 or more personal growth and business trainings together over the 26 years we’ve been together and there was a pull for me to say “yes.”
Because I hadn’t seen the sun in 2 weeks in Ohio and thought there’d be sun in Arizona, I finally did say “yes” being the sun worshipper that I am.
If I hadn’t said “yes” I would have missed one of the most memorable experiences of my life.
I would have missed the workshop experience, meeting the fabulous 11 people in the group and most of all, I would have missed being with the Ultimate Coach, Steve Hardison who dropped in on Saturday of the workshop.
A little bit about Steve…
In the coaching circles we travel, he’s considered to be the best. A book called The Ultimate Coach was written about him by his wife, Amy Hardison and Alan D. Thompson. A whole “Being” movement rose from it, including gatherings at various cities around the world, workshops led by others, and zoom book readings of The Ultimate Coach. It grew because Steve always urged for us to not read the book about him but read it about how it applies in our lives.
In every public talk I’ve seen, Steve cautions everyone not to put him on a pedestal but to read the book about themselves.
His energy is big and powerful. He’s such an example of love, appreciation and service and goes the extra mile for people who come into his path.
At the workshop, Otto gave Steve a copy of our Big Fat Love book because we’d included a quote from him, he read it and posted on social media, recommending it.
He didn’t have to do any of that and yet he helped our ideas reach a lot more people than we had previously.
Would this all have happened in that way if I hadn’t said “yes” to the workshop?
Maybe, but I would have missed such a rich, loving experience that I share with Otto and the people there would have missed meeting me.
So now, I also said “yes” to going with Otto to London for his final coaching program weekend. While I’m not going to the sessions, I will meet some of the people he’s talked about and will have the exciting opportunity to roam around London on my own.
In my life, I’ve allowed fear to automatically say “no” to opportunities that cross my path and keep me small.
Now I see that by doing that, I not only limit opportunities for me which narrows my experience of life but also I’m closing off opportunities for service and love that could benefit someone else.
Of course, if there continues to be a strong “no” that comes from my wisdom deep inside instead of fear, I need to listen to that.
But I’ve discovered that if you know that fear is underneath your “no,” saying “yes” instead of listening to that fear uncovers possibilities, can be a whole lot more fun and more loving to you and to others.