Unleash the Power of the P
what happens
when you unleash the power of the p
powerful moments happen now get your
minds out of the gutter because that’s
not the p
i’m talking about although it is pretty
powerful
but i digress let me tell you what i
mean
did you know the letter p actually has
meaning
yeah it represents the number seven
now if you are a biblical scholar or a
numerologist then you know
seven means completion but the letter p
also represents spiritual knowledge
wisdom independence and family
all powerful entities by themselves
now i want you to ponder and project
over the p words you’ll hear over the
course of the next few minutes
there i was standing side by side with
steve harvey
on family feud i’m in the fast money
round and the clock is set with
25 seconds he asked are you ready
let’s do this okay
we surveyed a hundred men name a part of
your body that’s bigger than it was
at the age of 16. and i instinctively
said
penis
there was an awkward silence over the
studio much
like it is right now and at the corner
of my eye
with the clock still ticking i see the
king
of comedy slowly falling
to his knees the audience erupted
and laughed her and i’m thinking that
was a pretty good answer
i know you’re wondering how many points
did i get
zero it didn’t even make the board
really because i’m thinking what hundred
men did they survey
because they lied i’m just saying
i’m thinking wow this
was an epic tv moment that went viral
on youtube but what steve harvey and
everyone else watching didn’t know is
that my life
had been riddled with p words that
didn’t go viral on youtube
there was a back story pushing me to
that moment
that i believed would change my life
you see as a broadcast news anchor i
built my entire
career using the power of my voice
2004 at the age of 39
as i was preparing for an early morning
newscast
it was lights camera
but no action dequina
a quote from chris tucker in
rush hour do you
understand the words that are coming out
of my mouth
[Laughter]
no they didn’t because the words coming
out of my mouth
were slurred and unrecognizable the one
tool
i used to make my living was suddenly
ineffective wow
instead of reporting the news i became
the new
story headlines morning news anchor
cecily wilson suffers stroke on air
wow this is not a part of my plan
i had to fight to regain my broadcast
quality voice
this was a moment where i thought about
the facts
the number one killer of women and the
leading cause of death for black women
is heart disease and stroke that
was the kryptonite that almost silenced
me
subsequently the marriage
to my college sweetheart the father of
my children the man
i was living my forever with
ended in divorce
what’s happening i didn’t think i could
take much more
shortly after the divorce my career
ended
my contract wasn’t renewed this
was a bad bad dream and i was just
hoping that i would suddenly wake up and
it would
all be over but it wasn’t
my home was facing foreclosure
my life had fallen completely
apart now i know i’m not the only one
standing here whose life has fallen
apart
it may be falling apart just as we speak
but there’s a p word that plays a major
role
in adversity
and although there is a negative
connotation to this word
there’s also a positive
allow me to reintroduce myself my name
is p
a to the i n pain
pain it’s a powerful powerful feeling
if you don’t shift your perspective and
i have a personal
deeply personal relationship with pain
are there any divorcees in the house
great then you can relate to this
you know that final moment is coming
but you’re never fully prepared for when
it arrives
here’s what i mean the moment
the movers arrived at my home to
divide our marital possessions
that thing hit me like a tsunami
delivering a wave of devastation and
destruction in my life
i was gasping for breath
that’s when i leaned on the power of
prayer to carry me through one of the
darkest
moments of my life
with tears streaming down my face and
guttural sobs
i managed to muster up enough energy to
stay
barely above a whisper
i walked by faith not by sight
i walked by faith not by sight
i knew the finality of the outcome this
day would bring
it was like it was like it was
free-falling and i
couldn’t grab anything to hold on to
i didn’t know what the next step would
be
but i knew i had to put one foot
in front of the other to live a life of
purpose
and through it all i’m thinking
wow this was not in my cards
now this might be the ultimate
p word pandemic
the pandemic of 2020
no one has been able to escape the wrath
of this faceless enemy
so imagine this one day
you’re an accomplished professional
living your
best life and then the next day
you’re driving uber can y’all see that
because i didn’t
the pandemic brought the next wave of
pain into my life
i was on the verge of losing cecily
again i lost my home
again i had to
find my new job again
now cecily wilson veteran broadcast news
anchor
driving uber
there’s a big difference between driving
the news
and driving passengers but i was
blooming
where i was planted
think about this
this is an opportunity for me to show up
and every time i got behind the wheel of
that car
i was camera ready passengers actually
thought they were being punk because
they were expecting a camera to pop out
of nowhere
but this wasn’t a reality show this
was the reality of my life
in fact i was writing with resumes in my
car just in case
the passenger riding in the back seat
was my next prayer
my next blessing the answer that i was
looking for
so maybe you are struggled with that
pain
and you’re going through the process
wondering when your time
is next i was on the verge of
right there on the edge trying
not to lose my head
but i’m telling you don’t lose your head
stay focused
and go through the process because in
the process
is where you find your purpose
the first time i lost everything
i’m reminded about one of my favorite
quotes from gandhi
and it says in order to find yourself
you have to lose yourself in the service
of others
and i remember having a pity party and
whining about
all the things that i i lost and i
didn’t have it and i’m talking to a
friend of mine and she says
shut up and quit your whining
go find a group of women facing life
adversity
and give them all the things that you
say you have nowhere to put
okay i wasn’t expecting that because i
thought my purpose
was to land a seat on the anchor desk of
good morning america
right next to robin roberts i can see it
now
but how did that work out for me
professionally
not so much but philanthropically
i gained plenty as a result
of purging all of the clothes and the
shoes
that i had left that i thought was
insignificant and invaluable
i created a non-profit wild legacy group
women overcoming with willpower for
women
facing life adversity just like i was
and what i thought was insignificant and
invaluable
turned out to be the purpose that was
right in front of me
so maybe you are blinded by the pain
and you can’t see the purpose
that’s right in front
pause plan
and pivot now
you may think that this story has a
happy ending
it’s still being written it’s a work and
progress
and in the meantime i’m blooming
where i’m planted in my one bedroom
garage apartment reinventing
cecily wilson
is that your story
i’m going to ask you how are you
reinventing yourself
are you whining or are you grinding
are you blooming or are you pl
burying take
whatever you have left that
insignificant pebble
add to it multiply it smack it flip it
rub it down oh no
do whatever you need to do to make that
thing
great and remember there’s no room for
pride
give yourself time to become transparent
and vulnerable because when you become
vulnerable
you’re not showing a weakness
you’re showing strength and then others
will be able to see themselves in you
and become empowered
now what i’ve learned is that what i’m
going through
it’s not for me at all it’s for me to
reach back
and help someone else it’s
for you
so when life adversity shows up you can
always
unleash the power of the p
any p word will do that’s up to you
now in the beginning i said seven
represents completion
so let me complete this by giving you
seven ways
you can leverage that power
one remember pain
can push you into your passion
and your purpose two
don’t discount the pain
because it’s a part of the process go
through it
three have a plan
that’s clear concise and something you
will commit to
four pivot
plant that foot and pivot
to avoid the obstacles that are in your
path
preventing you from reaching your goal
five
this is one of my favorites
surround yourself with a posse
that will support you and hold you
accountable
six principles
stay true to them and do not let me
repeat
do not compromise and seven collectively
pursue persist and persevere
perseverance is synonymous with
unstoppable
if you do not quit you cannot
be defeated these principles
will help you to unleash the power
of the peace