The change in my attitude towards life was helped by Spencer Johnson who wrote the book ‘Who Stole My Cheese.’ His insistence that rats were more intelligent than humans made me want to learn their ways. Rats didn’t turn back when they came up against a wall, he said. They looked at it from every angle until they broke through.

The wall that came to block us in 2020, covered the world. Millions lost jobs and fell with the blow. I too lost a whole season of work which could prove a year until I am able to speak at wellness festivals and teach health/beauty seminars again.

That’s when I became a rat. If a rat couldn’t make money from teaching publicly, what might it do?  Solutions included teaching online, getting featured in magazines to keep my name abuzz and finding a range of health products to sell online. I wrote article after article and dedicated myself to sniffing out opportunities.  For months I burrowed away at the wall but nothing happened and not one brick came loose. I thought of Thomas Edison when he was approached by a journalist of the New York Times who asked him how it felt to have failed after trying 700 times to create the electric light bulb. Edison replied ‘I haven’t failed. I just proved those 700 ways don’t work.’

Covid for me was a wakeup call.  A time to reinvent myself for an uncertain future and ensure I had money coming in, rain or shine. I’m not someone who boasted about their knowledge or talents beforehand but what the heck – who knew if I’d even be alive a year down the line. I increased my efforts, acted with boldness and left no stone unturned until I scratched my way through.

The moral of this tale is not to let life defeat you, despite circumstances and odds because two weeks ago my wholehearted dedication paid off. I’m being featured in loads of mags, been on BBC radio, done podcasts for health and wellness organisations and found a super range of Hemp and CBD oil products to sell online.

Rats are cool. Become one like me and you will not only survive but thrive.

 

Stella Ralfini is an award winning life coach, health/beauty expert and best selling author.