SUSBS Superstar: Ursula Renee

I am very excited to introduce this month’s SUSBS Superstar, Ursula Renee! Ursula is a published author I have watched work hard to find her own voice and achieve her goals. She is like a sister to me, and I am very proud of her.

If you think I am biased, you are right. Not only is she an awesome person, we have literally known each other our entire lives. Our mothers are sisters, and I was born six months before she was. Here she is, in her own words.

Author of ‘100 Things to Do Before You Die’ is killed in fall – and he only managed to achieve half his list.

This headline for an August 26, 2008 article about the passing of Dave Freeman seems to mock the author for not completing all of his goals before he died. Instead of focusing on the fact that he “only managed” to achieve half his goals, the journalist should have been celebrating Dave Freeman’s accomplishments.

In 1999, when I first heard about the book 100 Things to Do Before You Die, I did not understand that by sharing his experiences with us Dave Freeman was encouraging us to seek out our own adventures. I was focused on the here and now and was definitely not thinking about the future, where I would be older and no longer free to enjoy life the same way I did as a child without someone telling me to act my age.

After Dave Freeman’s passing I looked at what he accomplished and decided I wanted to achieve just as much. I did not want to look back at my life and start a sentence off with, “I wish I had…” and end it with all the dreams I had not fulfilled.

It was not hard coming up with a list of goals I wanted to work towards. Right next to my bed were notebooks containing the incomplete manuscripts I never made time to finish. I had always wanted to write a book, but something was always getting in the way of me achieving the goal. Besides that pesky nine to five job that I had to show up for every day if I wanted to keep a roof over my head, there was the child to be raised, dinner to prepare and various other activities to demand my attention.

Once I decided to go for it, I knew I could no longer make excuses. Life was not going to stop for me. I had to make the time if I wanted to achieve. This included turning off my favorite show at night, learning to write on the train during my commute and working alongside my son while he did his homework. The last was the most important as I believed that by watching me work towards my goals, my son would be inspired to follow his own dreams.

As I prepare to celebrate my 49th birthday, I look at my bucket list and celebrate the items I have accomplished over the past ten years. Besides publishing three novels, I have learned photography, drawing and stone carving. I have also discovered the joys of traveling and started working towards my goal of visiting every state.

I now look forward to the next ten years as there are still plenty of goals that have yet to be accomplished.

For me, Show Up, See and Be Seen means stepping out of my comfort zone to make my dreams a reality; dividing each goal into several smaller stages so I can celebrate each step that brought me closer to achieving it and proving to those around me I am not done living my life just because I have reached a certain age.

Please join me at www.ursularenee.com to learn more about my ventures.