Kick Ass Coaching: When You're Told You're Not Enough

Courtney Mcleod was told as a little girl that she was "too ugly to play Dorothy" and that moment changed her life forever.

Transcript

00:00You're too ugly to play Dorothy.

00:07We don't want you in this play.

00:13Tears streamed down my face.

00:16I burned with shame and embarrassment.

00:20All of the unworthiness and self-doubt that I felt on a daily basis rose to the surface

00:28and I wanted to die in that moment.

00:31This was the most important moment in my young life.

00:37And there I was, sitting on the sideline, watching my play being performed without me.

00:45When I was eight years old, I dreamed of being Dorothy from my favorite movie, The Wizard of Oz.

00:55I longed to escape and to be someone else.

01:00I wanted to be beautiful and sweet and have adventures with friends.

01:07Instead of living my reality, which was being the shy, unpopular girl by day,

01:15and at home, the lonely, only child, often caught in the middle of my parents' violent screaming matches.

01:26As painful as that day was, I walked away with the understanding that I just wanted to be loved and supported for my uniqueness.

01:36And that has become my fuel and my motivation for everything that I do.

01:41You see, all of the characters in The Wizard of Oz go on this quest.

01:48They just want the things that they desperately don't feel that they have.

01:52A brain, courage, a heart.

01:56And they feel that only this magical wizard can give it to them.

02:00In the end, they realize they had those things all along.

02:04Everything that we need for success, happiness, it's already in us.

02:10We just need to believe in ourselves.

02:12We were not meant to sit on the sidelines of our lives.

02:15We were meant to impact the world in a way that only each of us can.

02:19I now have two beautiful, amazing daughters of my own, ages 8 and 11.

02:27And I do everything in my power to help them build their confidence for when they have their Dorothy moments.

02:35And they will.

02:38The motto in our house is to always be yourself, no matter what.

02:43But more than that, be proud of who you are.

02:46I still have Dorothy moments.

02:49We all have Dorothy moments.

02:52At least now, I can think to myself, there is no one like me.

02:56There is no one like me.

02:58There is no one like me, just like there is no one like you.

03:07For more information, visit www.FEMA.gov