A DECADE+ OF STORYTELLING POWERED BY THE BEST WRITERS ON THE PLANET

WE DON'T DO IT ALL, BUT WE DO IT ALL "FOR GOOD"

BE PART OF THE LEGACY

TAMPA BAY • FEBRUARY 23-24 2026

This FINAL encore experience will be unlike any other. Because like everything we do, it's been "reimagined" from beginning to end. It's not a virtual or hybrid event. It's not a conference. It's not a seminar, a workshop, a meeting, or a symposium. And it's not your typical run-of-the-mill everyday event crammed with stages, keynote speeches, team-building exercises, PowerPoint presentations, and all the other conventional humdrum. Because it's up close & personal by design. Where conversation trumps presentation. And where authentic connection runs deep.

How Can We Bring More Positive Energy Into 2017?

WOW, can you believe it is already December 2016?  It seems just like it was week before last that it was January 1, 2016, and I was getting ready to have a hip replacement done on my right side, the latter part of the month.

I have said this before and I am saying it again, “I believe the Earth is rotating faster, and time passing has nothing to do with what age we are.”  Whether you are two or ninety-two, Monday still gets here faster.  Don’t you think so too?

After writing the above, this is what I immediately saw come up on my cell phone, next to my laptop, “No matter how good or bad your life is, wake up each morning and be thankful that you still have one.”   I noticed it was posted on Facebook, by a friend, Ms. Laurie Francis, who is a massage therapist.  She and her husband are dancers.

She is ALWAYS posting positive thoughts. This made me smile and say I am so grateful for life and all that I have, at this moment in time.  And I am grateful to be here to tell you about feelings about the earth rotating faster. YES I AM!

What about you?  How has your life been in 2016?  What challenges did you get through, and you maintained your sanity?  Were they family, friend, or business related, or all three?  How did you get through those tough times?

When you look back over the year, are there things you would have done differently, if you had them to do over?  Maybe a better question would be, “Did you have anything or situations in your life in 2016 you would even call challenging?”  We all have different experiences and see, feel, hear, taste, or touch them differently.

What do you think had the greatest impact on your life in 2016?  Whenever I am asked that question, I never can answer right away.  I do know everything wasn’t peaches and roses.  However, it is as if I have come through it and then “let it go” from my conscious mind.

Whatever those challenges are or were, I have to dig down a little, sometimes a lot, before I can come up with a response.  I have been through so much personally and with other people, I could not live a full life if I kept the negative “stuff” at the front of my conscious mind.  Do you understand what I am saying?

READ MORE AT WOMEN’S VOICES MAGAZINE

Shirley T. Burke
Shirley T. Burkehttp://www.esteeminstitute.com/Home_Page.html
SHIRLEY T. Burke founded the Esteem Institute as a platform to offer transformational programs, classes and workshops to individuals and organizations who welcome personal and professional growth. In 2011, she was one of ten people to be named as an inaugural winner of the Boomer Magazine “It List.” She is a member of the National Speaker’s Association, President-Elect of National Speaker’s Association-VA Chapter and the ABWA -The River City Express Network and past-president of the Network of Enterprising Women.

DO YOU HAVE THE "WRITE" STUFF? If you’re ready to share your wisdom of experience, we’re ready to share it with our massive global audience – by giving you the opportunity to become a published Contributor on our award-winning Site with (your own byline). And who knows? – it may be your first step in discovering your “hidden Hemmingway”. LEARN MORE HERE


RECIPIENT OF THE 2024 "MOST COMPREHENSIVE LIFE & CULTURE MULTIMEDIA DIGEST" AWARD

WE ARE NOW FEATURED ON

EXPLORE 360° NATION

ENJOY OUR FREE EVENTS

OUR COMMUNITIES