These vlogs bring you back with me to where we’ve been together over the last seven years. I share them to close one story so as to open another.
This year on December 25th, which is both Christmas Day and my 50th Birthday, I am stepping into a new story…and I know what I know what I know about how stories work:
Stories won’t let go until they’ve been fully heard.
For the next sixteen weeks I am releasing a Story Hit (vlog) from our last five years together. Some will be my favourites, some yours.
I will be writing more about these moments in both my upcoming book: STORY STONES (coming fall 2021, and in my one woman show: O MY GOD (touring spring 2021).
On my 50th Birthday, if you’re on my VIP list, I’ll be sending you 50 Days of Christmas Story Gifts from Dec. 25th to February 12th. If you want some story goodness filled with sneak peeks into the creation and rehearsal process, plus be able to pre-order the book, and order tickets to the show, click here and the let the gifting begin! (You’ll get a bunch of cool story right away)
Tina Overbury is a core-communications specialist who works with individuals and organizations who feel called. She is a storyteller, performer, and a professional listener who works with narrative and story structure as a vehicle for human connection. Her work is rooted in Myth, Mysticism, and the practice of personal faith. She brings thirty years of collaborative storytelling in theatre, film, marketing, team based selling, and workshop facilitation. She is the founder of Live Your Best Story, a weekend retreat of deep listening held on Bowen Island, BC, Canada and is the voice and story behind TinaOLife, home to Story Stones, TinaO’s online gathering of listening in to sacred stories. Tina is a proud associate of PowHERhouse media where she listens and supports the ‘stories’ of whole and integrated leaders of tomorrow.
If you’d like to know more about TinaO’s approach to STORY and receive updates about STORY STONES the book, and O MY GOD, her one woman show, click here and you’ll be added to her ‘stay in touch’ list plus she’ll send you a few short intro videos about what story means to her.
I’m training for my first triathlon and when I decided to actually commit: hook line and sinker it was because the decision made me, and not the other way around. Don’t believe me?
Have you ever done something without knowing why?
When you tell the story about how you met your best friend, or spouse, have you ever said “I just kinda stumbled into him/her…”
When you’re choosing what you’re going to order off the menu, how do you land on what you really want?
Ever commit to something you can’t afford yet somehow make it work?
Have you ever been in the right place at the right time with the right people resulting in the luckiest happenstance ever?
That’s what I’m talking about. See, when the decision makes you and you’re able to tune in to the process, as in, you are able to S L O W down enough to follow each individual impulse: listening to how your mind responds, noticing how your body reacts and then following through with a decisive action rather than just chalking it up to ‘lady luck’, that’swhat decisions making you looks like.
You might call it a ‘gut’ choice. Fair enough, now we’re talking semantics yet we’re both on the same page.
That’s how saying YES to my first triathlon happened. A good friend of mine sent me a Facebook post about Vancouver’s first Ironman branded Tri and without skipping a beat, my body said yes and opted not to block the insanity of that decision.
Today I am two months away from the damn thing and I’m in the thick of it. Training and preparing that is. I started with The Vancouver Sun Run last month, nailed it and celebrated. Check.
Next…
Then with the help of the good people at Spin Cycle Bike Store, I acquired Rosebud, my first real road bike and began to train on two tires instead of two legs. This where it gets hard – and not physically difficult (well, okay, yes physically too), but really, it is more about the mental game. Why?
Because hills stink and I live in a place with lots of them. I see cyclists coming off the boat to enjoy my island home, and I think: “Oh Dude… you have no idea. This ain’t Tofino. We’re not all about tourists, offering a cute little bike path along a flat, straight-away with sweet coffee shops dotting the route”, no, that we’re most definitely not. We’re an island for cycling athletes who are super happy sweating and grunting.
That said, when I’m in the right frame of mind, I totally dig it. I have this kinda ‘I’ll show you road‘ mindset. ‘Just watch me fast cars! Take that hill number eight! I am UNSTOPPABLE!’
But when I’m not in the right frame of mind. Oiiiiiiiii. It’s no fun at all. And the really frustrating thing is that I can’t seem to predict which mindset I’m going to be in when I climb on my bike.
But then I had an insight.
You see, I forgot.
The first 20 minutes of doing anything NEW usually sucks.
It’s awkward.
The body freaks out.
The mind goes ballistic. The self-talk ramps up with self-doubt.
Oh yeah… that’s normal.
The invitation for me, for you, for all of us is to stay with it, to grow stronger, to trust the process, to build the engine, to re-frame our thoughts away from doing what is easy, to doing what we feel compelled to do regardless of our skillset.
I felt drawn to say yes to doing my first triathlon only eight months out of radiation treatment from stage 3 tonsil cancer. It makes no logical sense, yet it’s the decision that made me, and it has felt dramatically ‘right’ the whole way.
Today I am in the thick of it and what I’m noticing, is that in this place, is where my reasons for saying yes begin to materialize.
When things are easy, what’s to learn other than ‘look what I can do’? When things are hard, that’s when the real learning kicks in:
Resilience
Courage
Tenacity
Depth of character
Physical and mental strength
New neuro-pathways of yes I can to replace the old ones of no I can’t
Knowing myself beyond whom I’ve believed myself to be
Why did I say yes to my first Triathlon? Well, I have some ideas, but the race hasn’t even happened yet and so there is so much more to come. I’ll be sure to fill you in on all I’ve learned once I cross the finish line on July 10th.
There is gold in them there hills.
Ride ém TinaO. Ride ém.
xxT
Yes you can support me by making a pledge to CAN TOO – supporting my very first triathlon.
TinaO is a writer, speaker and the founder of TinaOLife – a hub for all things worth living for, the workshop Live Your Best Story, and her coaching practice: Tall Poppy Living. She’s also a professional network marketer with a decade in the industry and with her Tall Poppy Living for Network Marketers Coaching Program, she teaches: selling isn’t slimey and marketing isn’t make-believe. You can be yourself and be successful in Direct Sales.
Sending LOVE to those who have walked the path, still run against time, or are now at rest.
There is LIFE after cancer.
Pledging $20+ in the name of your loved one supporting:
Goal #1 $1000 for Can Too (Vancouver Triathlon)
Goal #2 $2500 for the Ride to Conquer Cancer
As a survivor, I swim, bike and run for them, because I still can.
I’m a cancer survivor.
Truth is, I hate that term, but it’s a story people relate to plus, it’s true. In April 2015 I was diagnosed with stage 3 tonsil cancer, HPV p16 immunostaining. Highly cure-able, yet grueling in treatment. I was warned by my doc, my ear nose and throat doc and the oncologist about all that was coming so I was prepared. It was a disgusting process for sure (I won’t get into that now, but if you want to know more I’ll share my story here later). In July 2015 we finished our final treatment and I’m humbled to say that we all made it, and I’m not just talking about ‘not dying’, I’m talking about, we’re all still ‘living’. Me and my family of five, my friends of many, and my community of plenty made it through together and we’re all just that little bit more inspired to be ALIVE today, thus TinaOLife was born.
This 100 Love campaign marks the beginning of my ‘cancer as life-catalyst story’ that found me. I often say, to whom much is given, much is expected, and unfortunately, sometimes what we’re given isn’t always the ‘good’ stuff.
I was given a lot:
To welcome fear to the table, to acknowledge disease as a guest, to choke down the very humanness of treatment, stare into the eyes of helplessness from those who love you the most, choosing to show up in action-yet surrendering to the process, to question: why me? To feel guilty, experiencing survivor remorse as one who seems to have side-stepped the destruction, and to carry on as a survivor (I still feel like I don’t deserve to say that), and knowing that I am so much more than the survivor label because I can still DO something.
So now I am giving back.
I’m 8 months out of treatment with an ‘all-clear’ petscan, everything presenting that we got it all and a stellar prognosis on the horizon, and so today I am choosing to celebrate this awesome body of mine that came back from being broken to celebrate what it can do PLUS pay it forward.
Today I am honouring those who have come before me: your family members, your friends, and your loved ones who have walked this cancer path, those who continue to race against time with their care providers and specialists doing their utmost to keep them alive, and those who are now at rest. This is a pledge page. This summer I will SWIM, BIKE AND RUN in their honour, and I’masking you: Whose names can I carry with me? as I train for two big physical events that promise to push my physical and psychological limits. I’m alive and I am celebrating that.
Here’s how it works:
No pledge is too small, and every $20 (Can Too) / $25 (Ride to Conquer Cancer) pledge with an honouree attached will be celebrated during each event and after. I will run, ride and swim in their name.
You can choose which event you would like to pledge:
EVENT #1 The Vancouver 5i50 Ironman Triathlon July 10th. It’s an olympic distance tri. Oh boy… I can thank my dear friend Adrian for this one.
It’s a 1.5km swim, 40km bike and finishing off with a 10km run.
p.s. the first time I swam with my face in the water I was 28yrs old and I haven’t done it since… I’m 45 yrs old now. This is my biggest challenge.
I am raising $1000 under the Can Too banner an organization that raises funds for cancer research in exchange for a triathlon training program and volunteer coaches to help me along the way. Haven’t heard about Can Too yet? Well, that’s because they’re not technically in Canada yet, (though cross your fingers for the future okay?) however, I can still work with them from a distance.
Can Too is an Australian organization that engages and inspires individuals to achieve personal health, well-being and altruistic goals. Beginners and experienced athletes alike are given professional coaching as part of a team to run, ride or swim in endurance events- including 10km, half-marathon and marathon runs, ocean swims and triathlons.
All pledges raised go towards innovation in the prevention, care and control of cancer through Cure Cancer Australia and Cancer Council NSW.
Today I run, I ride, I swim and I celebrate what this body can do, for me, and for you.
Why? Because I can, and that’s worth sweating for.
EVENT #2The Ride to Conquer Cancer August 27/28th
The Ride to Conquer Cancerbenefiting the BC Cancer Foundation is an epic, two-day cycling event spanning over 200 kilometres through picturesque scenery! Their vision is clear – A World Free From Cancer.
With some highschool (Patrick Phang) and elementary school friends (David Tam) behind me (yes, it’s true), I’ve decided to cycle 200km over two days. Thanks to Spin Cycle Bike Store in Gibsons on the Sunshine Coast, I have a new LIV bike to the ride too. They rock and I’m thrilled to have them on my ‘tri’ and ‘ride’ team. Whewwwwf!
Doing this ride post cancer treatment myself, I get to reclaim the cyclist in me who used to love the freedom of cycling before having children. Once again I’ll feel the strength in my legs and feel the wind in my hair. I’m soooooo looking forward to this ride!
The money you pledge for The Ride to Conquer Cancerwill benefit BC Cancer Foundation and support leading clinicians, scientists, and researchers whose search for new discoveries and improved patient outcomes will have a real impact in our communities throughout the province, across Canada, and around the world.
Each week I will update our list of honourees. Please know that once you PLEDGE to either cause, I will followup with an email to you confirming the name of your loved one and if you’d like to send me a photo, I’ll use that too in my 100 person square that will look something like this only with 100 faces:
Today, this is where it all begins. I have just three names on my list so far and I wish it could stay that way because that would mean we’ve found the solution. For now, we begin where we are and we move forward from here.
Here’s to the people you love.
and here’s to you for making a difference.
xxT
FOR TODAY, MARCH 23rd, I train for:
My mom, Peggy Overbury
My dad, Norman Overbury (while not cancer, emphyzema instead, he died from years of smoking and I have no doubt that cancer would’ve come quickly).
and My mother in law, Barb Ingram
xxT
Make your pledge to CAN TOO – supporting my very first triathlon by clicking here.
Make your pledge to the RIDE TO CONQUER CANCER – supporting my August ride by clicking here.
Want to join the team? Run? Bike? Swim? with me? Send me a message here and we’ll connect okay?
Not only does Network Marketing have a bad reputation in the minds of many people, while the trash talk may be misinformed, some of the issues have traces of truth to them which has lead me to the following questions: Would I ever leave? Would I ever go back? Would I do it all over again if I could?
Here’s the deal: I’m a decade in. I’ve made it to the top. I’m a pioneer in Canada. My family still lives on my network marketing income. While it was once six figures and gave me trips to Maui, trips all over the United States and Canada, Tiffany jewelry, a luxury car, purses, bags, swag, shiny things and more… I’m not motivated by stuff. That’s all nice and everything but it doesn’t get me out of bed and over my own procrastination or resistance.
Still, after five years of ‘taking a break’ my family of five still lives on the income that my network marketing business pays me. Crazy right? Or is it smart?
Trash Talk: So much promise, so little return.
Truth: You get what you are willing to build. What is worth sweating over to build?
Here’s the thing: I don’t respect ‘follow the leader’ groups (come on now, as if one person could have the answer for everybody), nor do I find any enjoyment in hotel hypey meetings (rah rah rah blah blah blah), and I really cringe when I hear ‘tactics’ for selling that involve ‘overcoming objections’, or ‘facing your fears and doing it anyway’. Why do objections need to be overcome? And surely our fear instinct has a purpose. How about just listening to the objection and being fearful of what is truly dangerous? I got to the ‘top’ of my business without ever having to overcome anybody’s objections or feel my fear and do it anyway. I didn’t do what I was afraid of. I did what challenged me instead, and I listened for the YES that worked for my clients and for me.
Trash Talk: It’s a cult.
Truth: You’re a business owner.
Here’s the dilemma: Business success in network marketing is based on your ability to teach thousands of people how to follow a simple business system over and over and over again – a.k.a. duplication. The truth is, network marketing success is no different than implementing the ideas in Michael Gerber’s The E-Myth. So really, people, calm down, it’s not brainwashing, it’s following a system. That said, without ‘jargon’ and ‘hype’ and ‘rituals’ and ‘a top ten list’ how does motivation and duplication happen? And while we’re here, how do you mass duplicate “just tell the truth and serve the people”.
Trash Talk: I hate those rah rah rah motivational selly things.
Truth: Find your own motivation, you’re not a sheep.
Here’s the challenge: Network Marketing isn’t for everybody (neither is team sports), yet anybody can do it.
Not everyone is going to find fulfillment in the network marketing industry, not everyone is going to generate wealth. Not everyone is going to enjoy the process either yet the doors are always OPEN for ANYONE to join in, and lots do.
I soooooooo respect an open playing field.
I sooooooo champion all-access-opportunities.
I live by ‘all’ is greater than ‘some’.
Trash Talk: Coffee isn’t for every-body
Truth: yet almost everybody drinks it.
Here’s the insight: In today’s wacky world of broken rules, cracked systems and mega-marketing (like who do you believe anymore?), we all need three streams of income to be bulletproof. I learned this from my friend Cat in Toronto. She said to me “we all need three legs to stand on because when (not if) one gets broken, we still have two to stand on”. True right? In the decade that I’ve been in this industry, I’ve had a third baby, almost lost my marriage, let go of my house, had a life-direction breakdown (okay, a mid-life crisis), parented emotional teenagers, lived through a recession, saw friends lose babies, divorce and experience financial ruin, and to top it all off, last year I had CANCER.
Mother Fudrucker. Are you kidding me?
Yes indeed, we all need three legs to stand on because sometimes it takes more than six weeks in a cast to mend a limb. Sometimes the leg is severed and simply needs to be replaced and that takes time. Over the last ten years, my network marketing business has been the only constant revenue our family has had, be it a gangsta paycheque or an average one. I sometimes forget that’s a worthy leg to stand on for sure.
Trash Talk: Why do you need a plan B if you already have a plan A?
Truth: Because you do.
Conference feet take a break in Calgary
Here’s what I’ve learned: Nobody wakes up dreaming about building a career in network marketing (well, none that I’ve met anyway), but everyone wakes up needing cash for food, shelter and peace of mind. Some people wake up desperate for a chance to GO FOR SOMETHING BIG, but most simply just want to be happy. Lots of people yearn to be appreciated, to be known, to be part of a community, and a select few decide to create it themselves.
Most of us have ALL that it takes to be successful in network marketing:
like people.
love the product you sell.
learn to communicate.
practice remembering that yes is an answer just as much as no is and that neither is better than the other, nor is it to be taken personally.
be habitual.
be reliable, be kind – and above all else…
LOVE PEOPLE (more than you like them).
Yet… so few think they have what it takes.
Even me sometimes, and I’ve been to the top. I drank the kook-aid. I wore the logos. I cried at the conventions. I even drove (drive) the car.
Trash Talk: So many people fail in network marketing.
Truth: So many people quit.
The truth is: I respect this industry more than any other industry I’ve ever been in because it’s real and there’s nowhere to hide or to pretend. The truth will ALWAYS out in network marketing because it’s a people based business. People have the best ‘sniffer’ I know. They can feel authenticity, they can smell a ‘sell’.
Oh yeah, and really… like come on… where else can I work 15 hours/week like it’s a ‘j.o.b.’ and make gangsta money? Where else can I go to ‘business school’ and get paid to learn how to be an entrepreneur? How else can I make ‘career’ money without having to have a career?
What other business allows you to have all the crazy goodness that comes with a franchise opportunity without having the million dollars you need to buy a frickin’ franchise? I can’t deny that. Just look at the numbers. Truly, don’t listen to the rah-rah-opportunity -this-will-change-your-life-stuff, just look at the bloody numbers. They don’t have ‘spin’ on them.
I’m an artist. I’m a momma. I’m a wife. I’m a writer, I’m an athlete (well, becoming one again), and I’m a coach. I don’t have time for a job. I got shit to do. Big shit. Big loud, fabulous, life-affirming, world tilting shit to do. I’m not here to waste my life pretending to play small when I’m not. No. That’s not me. I have a calling to fulfill, and so do you.
Network Marketing is not my career, yet it encompasses all the things that I’m designed to do: build community, see greatness in people, write, speak, perform, and make a difference in this insane world of lying lying lie lie lie selling. Thank you Jerry Seinfeld – you crack me up. Did you you click the link? Here it is again.
Network Marketing, you are the gift that keeps challenging me to grow up, to ‘fess up, to lift up, and most importantly to SHOW UP. Without you, I wouldn’t know what I know now and I wouldn’t be here on TinaOLife living out the calling that’s been with me since I took my first breath.
So to answer my own questions:
Would I leave?
ummm probably not, that just seems stupid. That’s callous, I know, but really, some things are pretty obvious when you can finally see them.
Would I ever go back?
Well, I’m certainly not working my biz the way I did ten years ago because that was sheer insanity (even though it worked), and technology has changed since then, so I don’t have to. It’s kinda nice to have a global business from the comfort of my bed and in my fuzzy slippers.
Would I do it all over again if I could?
That’s the easy hard one to answer: Yes. Yes I would. It’s kinda like: “if you knew what you know now about marriage and having children, would you do it all over again?” – yes, yes, yes and more yes. It’s frickin’ hard. It’s totally real and it’s the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done.
The deeply challenging things that expand us usually are.
xxT
Wanna know about my business? email me. overburynation@gmail.com
TinaO is a writer, speaker and the founder of TinaOLife – a hub for all things worth living for, the workshop Live Your Best Story, and her coaching practice: Tall Poppy Living. She’s also a professional network marketer with a decade in the industry. She teaches: selling isn’t slimey and marketing isn’t make-believe. You can be yourself and be successful in Direct Sales.
Tina Overbury is a core-communications specialist who works with individuals and organizations who feel called. She is a storyteller, performer, and a professional listener who works with narrative and story structure as a vehicle for human connection. Her work is rooted in Myth, Mysticism, and the practice of personal faith. She brings thirty years of collaborative storytelling in theatre, film, marketing, team based selling, and workshop facilitation. She is the founder of Live Your Best Story, a weekend retreat of deep listening held on Bowen Island, BC, Canada and is the voice and story behind TinaOLife, home to Story Stones, TinaO’s online gathering of listening in to sacred stories. Tina is a proud associate of PowHERhouse media where she listens and supports the ‘stories’ of whole and integrated leaders of tomorrow.
Because hills stink and I live in a place with lots of them. I see cyclists coming off the boat to enjoy my island home, and I think: “Oh Dude… you have no idea. This ain’t Tofino. We’re not all about tourists, offering a cute little bike path along a flat, straight-away with sweet coffee shops dotting the route”, no, that we’re most definitely not. We’re an island for cycling athletes who are super happy sweating and grunting.
