by Noella Noelophile®
Tonight is it–Halloween! And the witches, ghouls and goblins will be out in force.
As we celebrate, a lot of us will be pretending to have “magical powers”. It’s all part of the act if you dress as a superhero, witch or other supernatural creature.
However–in real life, there are words that amount to magic.
Thirty years ago today–to the day–I experienced that.
Working a dead-end office job, I’d also been taking evening broadcasting classes–and had fallen in love with all aspects of radio. I could practically count the days until broadcasting became my career.
Then, one night, one instructor told his class, “Remember–no matter what you do to make the rent–you are still a broadcaster.”
The words “I am” are the most powerful in our language. Whatever follows them, you tend to believe. And when you believe, you act “as if”.
This past weekend, another powerful pair of words came up, as well.
At a conference in Long Beach, several speakers referenced the words “what if”.
“What if”, they said, is the foundation of storytelling. It’s where you begin the journey of imagination.
But it’s also the foundation of inventions, scientific and otherwise. The automobile, passenger flight, and the Internet all started with, “what if”.
And today, decades after we saw a man walk on the moon, we continue to ask, “what if”. As in, “What if cars drove themselves? What if private citizens flew into space? What if we could colonize Mars?”
“What if” is magical because it spawns more “what ifs”.
Coming back to my magical experience? It, too, started with “what if”, and “I am”.
Since the instructor’s comment, I’d been mentally saying, over and over, “I am a broadcaster”. That meant coming to the studios faithfully to learn, practice and spending every spare hour trying to get good at it.
Then, in October, 1988, the broadcasting school I’d been attending sent out notices.
Students were notified that they had a limited amount of time to finish their degrees. Receiving that notice that said, “there will be no further extensions after this date”, meant “full-on, or forget it”.
At first, I thought, “That’s it–guess I don’t get to be a broadcaster, after all. I can’t finish in three months, working full-time.”
The thought crept in. “What if I got a loan and took these classes full-time?”
Now, I’m not suggesting, especially today, that anyone walk away from a full-time job. At least, not without planning, preparation and at least three “Plan B” backups, should things not work out. Jobs were more plentiful in 1988, with less competition. Rents were less expensive. Plus, I was very lucky.
But, the fact remains that that “what if”–combined with the “I am…” gave me the courage to try for my dream.
The loan came through.
And on Halloween night, 1988, I worked my last day at a desk job and closed the office door behind me.
As I headed to Hollywood, and our broadcasting school, I remember looking up at the moon and thinking, “I’m either crazy–or more sane than ever before.”
I spent every waking hour of those last three months finishing my broadcasting course.
It was a scary and wonderful time. Money was tight, and no guarantees that anything would ever happen. But somehow, it worked out, with my first part-time broadcasting job becoming available a matter of weeks after that Halloween.
Another opportunity opened up three months later–and grew into a full-time job. But the job I really enjoyed the most, and remember as the best, was a small-market radio gig that started on weekends, in September, 1989.
My broadcasting career has been crazy, low-paid, sometimes stressful, and never boring.
And it was an amazing adventure, that continues today. I wouldn’t trade one minute of it.
This Halloween, 2018, what I wish for you is that your words may provide the pathway to your dreams. May you experience the positive power of “I am” and “what if”.
And thirty years from today, may you look back and say, “Wow. I’m so glad I did.”