Change My Life: Oprah Please Don’t Leave Me!

I’ve watched the last episode of Oprah about four times now. I just keep hitting replay.

25 years. That’s a serious emotional investment.

I don’t have adequate words for what Oprah and her show have done for me. She has changed my life.

When I was in Junior High I would run home from school to watch the last half hour of Days of Our Lives, then Phil Donahue then Oprah. (I guess I had no life.)

As a young newspaper reporter, pre-DVR, I would go in early or come back in the evenings to go home and check in with humanity.

Humanity. That’s what Oprah has connected me to. The greater, beautiful, passionate, exhilarating expression of humanity. A scope broader than my small daily life.

The people who get through it anyway, though their lives have taken horrific, unimaginable turns.

The celebrities who turn out to be real people with real problems and the same feelings all of us have.

The spiritual guidance on the deep level of realizing that we’re all connected by a need to be heard, acknowledged and validated.

The weight loss advice, the beautification of self, the hoarding advice, the medical advice from Dr. Oz and all of her other wonderful counselors.

The fact that she gave women a voice. A real voice, with significance.

All of it.

It was the transition in my day. The moment when I’d grab a snack, tell the kids they have no claim on me for one hour. At 4 pm since I was 12 years old I’ve taken that one hour out of my day to expand my self, to broaden my horizons, to LEARN something about someone that I probably never would have known.

It has made me feel like I wasn’t alone.

It has made me feel like I was connected to the whole wide world.

It has made me feel more worthy, more beautiful, more validated.

It has made me feel more compassionate, more kind, more universal, more connected to those I may never have felt connected to.  Again, a positive change to my life.

What will I do now? It’s just a TV show. Except that it’s not. It’s taken significant mind share in my life. It’s become a part of my consciousness. It’s made me aware that I even have a consciousness. It’s made me believe that I could DO something significant.

What will I do now?

I suppose I’ll grieve a little. And be grateful that I had the pleasure of experiencing The Oprah Winfrey Show for 25 years of my life. And grieve that one of my major dreams – that I would write a best selling book, The Girl Revolution, by Tracee Sioux, won’t ever be chosen as an Oprah Book Club Selection and I won’t ever be interviewed on Oprah. I imagine I won’t be the only person grieving that dream.

Thank You Oprah, Prophet.

Tracee Sioux is a Law of Attraction Coach at www.traceesioux.com.  She is the author of Love Distortion: Belle, Battered Codependent and Other Love Stories. Contact her at traceesioux@gmail.com.