How I Lost My Sparkle (and how I found it again)

New Book - A Glimmer of Pixie Dust: Finding Our Hope in the Disney Story

Someone recently asked why I looked so pensive in clips of myself in the Disney parks

implying it was disingenuous

as if unhappiness didn’t belong in the Happiest Place on Earth.

What they didn’t know is those clips are as honest as it gets.

because this past year, I slowly watched my smile disappear

stolen from me by someone I’d trusted

someone I’d known almost my whole life

who suddenly became the villain in my story.

They treated me as if I didn’t exist

and so I started to question if I should.

I spent months in the dark

holding it together for the world to see

while internally falling apart

but I was determined to keep putting one foot in front of the other

so I captured myself

not faking a smile that I didn’t feel

but the truth of the process

of letting my safe place heal me

one step

and ride

and firework at a time.

I took the stories of Imagineers and animators

who were real people like us

And let what they created

inspire the words I poured into a book

that was a light in the darkness

a glimmer of pixie dust when I needed it the most

in hopes that it would be the same

for anyone who’d forgotten how to have a happy thought.

Today, I held that book in my hand

And remembered the chapters

when I didn’t think I would ever hope again

trust again

smile again

and marveled at how the sparkle that I thought someone had stolen forever

had slowly started to come back.

Because the truth is

it was never anyone’s to take

I just had to remember where to find it.

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Watch: How I Lost My Sparkle:

A Glimmer of Pixie Dust: Finding Our Hope in the Disney Story is available now on Amazon! Thank you to all my subscribers who support my writing journey, this book would not be possible without you.