As I start day four of sitting in a hospital room, it’s amazing at how quickly a person’s priorities and perspectives on life can change. Since I’ve been here in Nebraska, I’ve had many conversations revolving around the quality of life with my family. When a disease like cancer strikes your family, many of the things that stress us out suddenly seem trivial. It’s amazing how major life events can help us see the big picture and reorganize our priorities to align with our true values.

This got me thinking about the “Quality of Life” within the pageantry world and some of the drama I occasionally witness. For example, some contestants will get worked up about their placement on stage, or perhaps another contestant is wearing the same dress. Focusing on small stuff like this will drain a person of their energy and lead to a low quality experience at the pageant.

What do you really want from your pageant experience? For the people who’s sole focus is only on “THE CROWN”, the small stuff that happens in pageantry will be an annoyance and a discouragement. On the other hand, if a person recognizes that pageantry is a vehicle to help develop leadership skills, identify core values, and live a life with purpose, well, that’s an entirely different story. As a pageant coach, these are the principles upon which I work with clients.

One life lesson I’ve recently learned from watching my dad fight his cancer is that time is precious and very finite. There are no guarantees for tomorrow and yesterday is history. All we have is the present and we can choose the quality of the moment.

So the decision is yours. Are you going to sweat the small stuff, or keep the big picture firmly in front of you living each moment to the fullest?

By Rhonda Shappert
March 23, 2010 20:50