Take Center Stage in Your Soul Story
Taking Center Stage in Your Soul Story
Standing center stage at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon, I felt as though I had stepped into a dream.
Yet it wasn't a dream at all.
There I was, standing on one of the world's most celebrated stages during a guided backstage tour as part of my participation in the University of Minnesota Spring Quarter in London program. For a moment, I simply stood still and let gratitude wash over me.
How did a shy farm girl from southern Minnesota end up here?
The answer had nothing to do with luck.
It had everything to do with my Soul Story.
As a child, I escaped into the pages of books. I imagined myself on movie screens and grand stages where courageous women lived extraordinary lives. Meanwhile, my own life felt small. I was quiet, painfully shy, and convinced that remarkable things happened to other people.
For years, that was the story I believed.
But Soul Stories have a remarkable way of whispering to us long before we're ready to listen.
Every transformation begins with awareness.
Long before I could name it, my soul knew there was something more waiting for me. Beneath the routines of work and everyday life lived a persistent longing—not for fame or applause. To become fully myself.
After graduating from high school, practicality won over passion. Instead of pursuing journalism, I earned a one-year secretarial certificate. Those skills served me well, but eventually I realized I was living a story that fit everyone else's expectations more than my own heart.
Then life presented another unexpected chapter.
The heartbreak of infertility left me searching for meaning. While my husband and I waited through the adoption process with Catholic Charities, my doctor gently suggested that perhaps I should focus on something besides trying to become pregnant.
Those words became an unexpected invitation.
Instead of remaining stuck in disappointment, I became aware that this season of waiting could also become a season of becoming.
At thirty years old, I enrolled in college to pursue the journalism degree I had quietly dreamed about for years.
That decision changed everything.
One of the greatest myths we believe is that our past determines our future.
It doesn't.
Our past informs us. It teaches us. It shapes our wisdom.
It does not have to limit what comes next.
During my freshman year, I saw a flyer announcing a study abroad program: Spring Quarter in London.
My heart immediately whispered, Go.
My practical mind had plenty of objections.
How could I afford it?
What about airfare?
What would my husband do while I was gone for three months?
Every dream has practical questions standing at the doorway.
Instead of allowing those questions to become barriers, I treated them as problems to solve.
Student loans could help with tuition.
My husband, a capable grown man, could make his own sandwiches and do his own laundry.
The more important question became:
Who would I become if I said yes?
I said YES!
Along with one professor, a teaching assistant, and seventeen fellow students—including several other married women returning to school later in life—I traveled to London.
We lived at the Earl's Court Beaver Hotel, gathered for class each week in the breakfast room, and spent the rest of our time exploring one of my favorite city in the world.
Then one unforgettable day, we toured the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Standing center stage, I realized something profound.
The stage wasn't simply a place.
It was a symbol.
Every decision I'd made—to return to school, to trust my longing, to embrace uncertainty, and to keep believing my story wasn't finished—had brought me there.
Long before I stood on Shakespeare's stage, I had already stepped onto the center stage of my own life.
Choosing joy doesn't mean life unfolds without disappointment.
It means refusing to let disappointment become the final chapter.
Joy is found in saying yes to possibility.
Joy lives in curiosity.
Joy appears every time we become brave enough to honor what our soul has been quietly asking us to do.
Looking back now, I see that London wasn't simply a destination.
It became evidence that impossible dreams sometimes begin with one courageous decision.
One application.
One journal entry.
One conversation.
One tiny step taken before you feel completely ready.
Your Soul Story Is Calling You
Perhaps standing on the stage of the Royal Shakespeare Company isn't your dream.
Perhaps your dream is writing your first book.
Starting a business.
Traveling somewhere you've always wanted to visit.
Returning to school.
Speaking on a stage.
Creating a life that feels more authentic than the one you've been settling for.
Whatever your dream may be, your Soul Story is already holding clues.
The first step is becoming aware of what your heart continues to whisper.
The second is rewriting the story that says you're too old, too late, not talented enough, or not ready.
The third is choosing joy by taking one small action today.
Begin With Your Journal
I've discovered that journaling is one of the most powerful ways to hear your Soul Story.
When you write by hand for even five to fifteen minutes each day, something remarkable begins to happen.
Your conscious mind grows quieter.
Your inner wisdom becomes louder.
Ideas appear.
Connections emerge.
Synchronicities unfold.
What once felt impossible begins to look surprisingly attainable.
Walt Disney didn't imagine Disneyland one day and build it the next.
Every meaningful dream begins as a single thought that someone chooses to honor.
Your journal becomes the place where those dreams first find their voice.
You don't have to wait for someone to invite you onto a stage.
Your Soul Story is already inviting you to step into the leading role.
The curtain is rising.
The story belongs to you.
