Behind The Screen: Cheryl’s Story – Being Myself
An Unexpected Purpose Revealed
It was around this time that Kelly, James’ daughter, & I started to become very close friends. I had been working at a local karaoke bar where Kelly would come in often, full of energy & bubbling over with joy, sharing her smile with everyone she met. I’ve always been drawn to those who have the same vivacious spirit & love of life as myself, so just like they always say, “birds of a feather, flock together,” she & I most certainly did. Another contribution for our amazing connection could also be due to us both being 7’s, in terms of Enneagram. 7’s are naturally optimistic & positive people & generally have a child-like nature. They are the creative thinkers, the multi-taskers, the adventure seekers, the entertainers, & the social butterflies of the world.
After spending an evening hanging out, Kelly began to tell me about a project she’d been working on for her dad. She had never spoken much about him, & it wasn’t until this moment that she told me who he was. Now I won’t lie, I had never heard of James Redfield or the Celestine Prophecy before this. But as she told me his story, I felt truly inspired & moved. I was genuinely awed by his perseverance & determination to follow his dream, no matter how many times he got knocked down. Not to mention the fact that it guided him to unforeseen success & turned him into a predominant figure in Spiritual Psychology.
As Kelly further explained to me why this website project was so important to her, I could see that she was a bit overwhelmed with the workload of ensuring it’s success. Although I had never been a tech savvy or computer whiz kind of girl, I had a compelling urge to help her with this project. I knew, if not anything else, I had a very resourceful nature & could at least assist in some way.
And So it Began
I promise you have never seen two people work together as well as Kelly & I do. We were quite amazed & thrilled by it ourselves. Our energies fed off each other & what one of us lacked, the other made up for, balancing each other out in every way possible. It was almost eerie how everything seemed to just work for us, leading me to feel as if there was some mysterious purpose for us to be brought together like this… it was synchronicity, as I later learned from James.
As we began to work on this website together, I found that the more I did it, the more I fell in love with it. I had never enjoyed working this much before. Even to this day, when asked what exactly is it I do, I struggle to explain it all. There are so many different elements & pieces that go into it, almost like a puzzle, one that I had to figure out & put together on my own. With most of my tasks, there is no one to tell me what or how to do something; I just have to research it & learn it by myself. In my opinion, one of the most gratifying experiences you can ever have is seeing yourself learning, growing & doing something that you would never have thought you were capable of achieving.
Unfortunately, as my salon job became more demanding & stressful, my spare time to assist Kelly became slim to none. Working at the salon was not what I thought it would be, & even though I didn’t want to admit it, I was pretty miserable. Along with management & scheduling issues, the money was not anywhere close to what I needed it to be. It was very disappointing considering my ultimate goal was to not have to work two to three jobs anymore. Still, I felt obligated to stick it out since I had spent the last two years in school for it.
Taking the Road Less Traveled
Kelly understood my decision, but she has never been one to take no for an answer, so she searched for a solution to both our problems. It wasn’t long before she called me to say that she had spoken with her dad, & James wanted to contract me as their website coordinator. I was shocked that he wanted me for this position that I had no background in, yet I felt honored beyond words that he trusted me & wanted to provide me with this incredible opportunity. Still, I was afflicted by the thought of leaving the salon & even worse for the fact that I had worked so hard to get through school for a job in this career field.
However, the idea of working with my best friend while earning enough to live off one job & doing work that didn’t even feel like work to me, had me feeling pretty torn. I took a few days to contemplate, but I couldn’t ignore the voice inside me, telling me that I already knew my decision. So I chose the unknown & decided to risk everything I knew for something I did not. And this decision has forever altered my life in ways that I could never have envisioned, opening doors I never dreamt existed for me.
