Let me tell you a story: on February 18, 2015, on Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, I decided to tweet a photograph that changed the entire trajectory of my life and helped me realize that I have a global mission. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has holding a contest and contestants had to simply tweet a photograph with the hashtag #ashtag (for ashes) to complete for free Lenten books. Loving to read books, I decided to compete for the free books. Having never taken an ashtag photograph before, I had no idea what I was doing.
But I wanted to make sure it wasn’t about me. So I decided to make me look anonymous in the photo and drawing the viewer’s attention to the photograph of Pope Francis and St. Francis of Assisi.
So I snapped a few photos, picked the best one, and tweeted it to USCCB, copying Pope Francis’ Twitter account so more people would see it. Like an archer, I was pulling the best arrow from my quiver and shooting it into the world…except that I had no idea where that arrow would travel and which target it would reach. Within minutes, BBC (British Broadcasting Story) was contacting me in Lincoln, Nebraska, USA asking for permission to use the photo. I immediately thought: this is a joke, right? I’m an amateur (improving) photographer with an eye for detail and visual acuity. No, not a joke. They asked for my consent to use the photo in a Vine video, explaining that Lent and Ash Wednesday were trending on Twitter that day and that #ashtags were trending too (didn’t know that). So they just wanted to create a Vine video to tweet it out to cover the story in a creative visual/video blended medium to provide quality content for readers/viewers.
Later that day, they tweeted me the photo after sharing it with their followers. So I retweeted it.
And then it hit me: I have a global mission. God has expanded my territory beyond just the United States into Europe and worldwide. What is my mission? To spread positivity, health, hope, joy, and running to the world through coaching, teaching, writing, and inspiring others. This completely changed the trajectory of my life. Now I have friends all over the world and we work together on positivity, health, hope, joy, and running.
Here’s a brief Periscope through katch today telling you my account of what happened with BBC, how I realized my global mission, and how I seek to inspire others and lift them up with everything I do.
Are you using all your gifts? Are you sharing them with the world? If not, why not. The world needs you just as much as it needs me. And together we can rebuild it with positivity.
Life is short. Make every second count!
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