Through some of my volunteer work, I had an opportunity to speak at a United Nations Development Program meeting in Dakar, Senegal, several years ago. While there, I met a young woman from Mali who told me how she’d been shunned by all the boys in her community for participating in sports.
As a young girl she was told not to wear shorts to play sports or she would never get a boyfriend. It was, of course, okay for boys to wear them and participate in sports, but there continued to be a rigid bias against girls doing so. Barefoot and pregnant takes on a whole other significance in Africa.
This young woman chose to buck the system, and eventually was given a chance to travel the world, make money and build her self-esteem through her track and field endeavors. She was no longer letting her circumstances limit her. She was creating her own advantages.
I could only imagine how this woman has become an enormous role model for endless young girls — and boys for that matter — in Mali. My short time with her energized and empowered me.
If you haven’t already made YOUR New Year’s Resolution, take the risk to put your “shorts on” too.
********** Motivational Weight Management Tip **********
I’ve had the great honor of working with some of the Biggest Loser contestants and it has inspired me to leave motivational diet, health, and wellness tips at the end of all of my blogs. These tools have been driven from actual advice I’ve shared.
This week's tip:
It’s the easy way out to hide under layers of clothes. Like my new Malian friend, be brave enough to put your on your shorts, bikini, tank tops or short skirt. These items are much harder to hide behind and will encourage you to make the changes you need.
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At the Olympic Winter Games in Nagano, Japan, Nikki Stone became America’s first-ever Olympic Champion in the sport of aerial skiing. What made this performance so unbelievable, was the fact that less than two years earlier, a chronic spinal injury prevented her from standing, much less walking or skiing off an aerial jump.
Nikki’s achievements have carried far beyond the slopes as she now works as an accomplished motivational speaker for national and international corporations and motivational coach for a new national Biggest Loser program.
Nikki has also recently released the inspirational bestseller When Turtles Fly: Secrets of Successful People Who Know How to Stick Their Necks Out (with contributors Lindsey Vonn, Shaun White, Tommy Hilfiger, and more).
For more information, please visit www.WhenTurtlesFly.com and www.NikkiStone.com.
Edited by Jody Smith