Are you searching for a new book to inspire you? One that will motivate you to make a change, in you! Then, look no more because crownheightsmom has the perfect book for you.Trust me, there is no better time than now, to start reading a book like this. Let me present, best-selling author and TV host Hoda Kotb’s newest book,Where We Belong : Journeys That Show Us The Way . It is a definite must-read that will leave you inspired, motivated and possibly rethinking your life path and and where you belong.
I just got through reading this book which I received recently at a MOMS and Secret Resorts & Spa luncheon and book signing with Kotb. The event, held at Manhattan’s Hunt and Fish restaurant in mid January made for an wonderful afternoon that was filled with laughter, tears , the sharing of personal stories and a delicious meal amongst a group of mom bloggers—all fans and cheerleaders, of Hoda Kotb .
The book, released on Jan 5 is filled with inspiring stories of individuals who answered “the call” from within. Individuals, whom were able to the answer the questions each of us will ultimately ask ourself one day. The questions of what is your life purpose and where do you belong?
Hoda explains it best when she writes in the book—-Most of us wonder what we’re doing. We float around in the glass half-empty, gaze out into the world of possibilities, and wonder if we should get off of our raft and climb out. Maybe even today you asked yourself: Is it too late to do that thing that made me so happy when I was young? Could what matters most to me finally be the center of my life? Can I really trust this yearning voice in my head and longing in my heart? Do I feel like I’m where I belong?
In person, Kotb is very much what you see daily on Kathie Lee & Hoda. During the fourth hour of Today alongside Kathie Lee Giffords she is witty, fun and full of big smiles. In person she is the same way.
The mom bloggers chewed down on delicious eats from Hunt and Fish including servings of salmon, chicken, pasta , salad and even french fries . To wash it down they sipped on speciality fruit drinks .Midway through the luncheon Hoda walked in dressed in a vibrant fuchsia and purple dress that popped against her tanned skin tone . Greeting the more than 30 moms in the room she took out her cell phone and started takings pics of everyone in the room before sitting down with MOMS co-creators Denise Albert and Melissa Gerstein for a frank 20-minute girl chat about the new book, surviving cancer, getting divorced and her wish to have children.They were joined by her co-writer Jane Lorenzini.
The breast cancer survivor and former Dateline correspondent really impressed the bloggers .She shared so much of herself and even gave out hugs in addition to signing books for everyone.
About surviving breast cancer she shared. “I wrote in my journal every day.” Adding, “at the bottom I would write one word . That one word everyday was FORWARD, because I wanted to keep moving . I wanted to move forward . Kotb would have that word written on a ring which she wears daily . Says the journalist, “whenever I get scared, I look down.”
On regrets she tells the group, “all of a sudden life gets away from you and you ask, what happened? I look at my life now and every time I see a baby carriage or a baby stroller I melt. It happens every single time and it is hard,” Kotb shares about not having kids of her own. She goes on to say, “I feel like something is missing but what do you do when you can’t fill that space? How do you do it?”The answer she says can be seen with a family in the book who adopted late in life or as Kotb recalls from personal experience when, ” I looked at PEOPLE magazine and I saw Sandra Bullock, [adopted ] and you go look what she did . I always thought about maybe starting a summer camp for kids. I thought that would help or that I wanted to be a school teacher.”
So adoption just might be an answer for Kotb. Says the journalist, “Something is missing! And you know, the people in the book did say often you don’t know what is missing until you find it. All of a sudden you go ‘How have I lived this long without X. So there are a lot of things I am thinking about.”
Kotb uses her life path as a teaching tool .”I got married late in life. ….. I had a failed marriage ….and I had breast cancer.” Adds the on air personality, ” If I didn’t get sick I wouldn’t have had the guts to go in and ask for this job.”
Hoda couldn’t agree more that the book comes at a great time of the year as people make their New Years resolutions and self reflect. “Now around the first of the year people are rethinking their lives and wondering what they should be doing. ” Or ,as she also puts it quite eloquently, “suddenly you feel like, am I just taking the path of least resistance, just sorta hopping on the train and letting it go or am I choosing? ” Adds Kotb, “the thing about this book is everybody chose.They put their hands on the steering wheels and they drove!”
Part of the reason I love what I am doing now [with Kathie Lee] is for the first time in my life we get to bring JOY.–HODA KOTB
Kotb is in the drivers seat .Joining the fourth hour of Today alongside Kathie Lee in 2008 she says she loves it there but can still remembers to that time when she did not find her purpose. She tells the story of covering Hurricane Katrina and the effect it had on her [She used to live in New Orleans]. “When you cover something that is personal you really feel it. Covering Katrina made me think about all the other stories I’d covered that weren’t personal to me but were personal to somebody and I wished I had handled it differently because sometimes as journalist you go in and you go out because you don’t have time to put your whole heart into it . It hurts your heart to do it over and over and part of the reason is that you kinda get hardened .”
I love what I am doing now ( with Kathie Lee)because for the first time in my life we get to bring joy.We get to lift people up and it is cool.”
Even with two New York Times bestsellers behind her– Ten Years Later: Six People Who Faced Adversity and Transformed Their Lives and Hoda: How I Survived War Zones, Bad Hair, Cancer, and Kathie Lee she continues to be the genuine no-airs-about-me, lovable and approachable on-air personality viewers are drawn to.
Hoda says it best when she says, “There is something to be said for being exactly who you are authentically, because if you are not, people sense it.” .
So true Hoda…..so true .Continue to stay exactly who you are. This is why we love you! ———by Debra Lewis-Boothman
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