Human Resource Specialist and life coach Sheba Wilson has added authorship to her growing list of credentials, having penned the inspiring book entitled ‘Getup &Lead – Live Everyday Above Defeat.’
Wilson described the book as captivating, inspirational, equipping, and empowering. She said also that it would give readers the tools they need to get out of their own way, and to recognize that there is something greater to what one has been called.
The 10-chapter book should be available on Amazon on, or before September 1. The official launch of the book will take place on September 19, at Point Grace Resort on Providenciales.
“This is special to me because it is my story, but it is a help guide for persons that are facing similar circumstances,” Wilson told NewslineTCI. “For those who wouldn’t know, I am a widow…this year would be the seventh anniversary of my husband’s passing. And navigating widowhood, single-motherhood, and really being able to find your way after a loss has been an experience.”
Wilson pointed out that she uses the book to share her individual experiences and some of the things that helped her to navigate and pursue her dreams, passion, while not allowing loss to cripple her nor cause her to stay stuck.
“…But to step out in faith and I fear in many instances, and to do things that I know within myself that I am called to do,” Wilson said.
“When I think back on my life, when I was married I was comfortable…and to experience that level of loss, and you have to do life by yourself, it causes you to become introspective and to reflect to think about all the things that you might have somehow put on the backburner, because you have the comfort of having a spouse, and I am not necessarily needing to do more. And so, I found myself in a situation where, after loss, to find my purpose.
“The words of my husband…his final words to me were that I should live… and they kept coming back to my memory every day…’live, live.’ And so, I was on the pursuit to discover what I was supposed to learn from the loss, how I was supposed to help humanity because of what I learnt. And, I have found that, and I am sharing it through the book,” Wilson added.
Wilson shared that each chapter has been carefully designed to be a motivational tool.
“There are several chapters, one in particular that I think people would find helpful, and that is the chapter on ‘Failure,’ because we all experience failure. But it is what we do when we experience failure. So, processing that and learning from it, discovering early what the lessons are, and then how you learn from those and move forward.
“You should expect that if you are going to experience success, you are going to encounter failure. But when you encounter failure, you have to have that mindset that there is a lesson in the failure…what is that lesson? And how do I find it and use it to move forward?
“Because failure isn’t fatal…it is only fatal if you decide you are not going to try again. So, I think that chapter is really going to be helpful to a lot of persons,” said the book’s author.
She continued: “There is also a chapter in there of basically mapping out a vision for your life and getting clear on what that is, and how to put a plan in place after you have discovered what it is that you really want.
“Many times, people know what they don’t want, but they have trouble articulating what they do want… and it is because we don’t spend a lot of time with ourselves. We try to stay away from being alone, but until you are at a place where we spend time with ourselves…where we ask ourselves the difficult questions, we won’t uncover what it is that we are truly meant to be doing.
“And so, there are two chapters in the book that focus on that and helping people to really discover what it is that they are meant to be doing,” Wilson stated, noting that ‘Get Up & Lead’ has great deal self-coaching techniques, as she is a strong believer in the power of coaching.
“Coaching is simply asking the tough questions…and you can do that for yourself too. I have coaches for different reasons, different areas of my life because sometimes I need that guide who’s going to help me to work through what I am dealing with or working on, and I also practice self-coaching.
“There are a lot of self-coaching questions in the book to really get deep, and to discover what the answers to those questions are, because you have got to move forward,” she stated.
Wilson pointed out that since success is a moving target, there is a chapter in the book that focuses on ‘What’s Next.’
“You experience success along the way, but you are never going to get to a point that you have arrived. And so, one of the things that come out in the book is finding out how you can be a person of significance. Personal success is great, but there is nothing like discover your purpose and being able to see how you are supposed to impact humanity positively and finding that being able to do something that has significance in the lives of others…that is most gratifying, most fulfilling. And until you get to that point, I don’t think you can experience true happiness,” she said.
Wilson revealed that even though she has set out to author a book that would foster inspiration, writing it also gave her a great deal of inspiration. She also pointed out that the book was 20 years in the making.
“Someone reminded me a few weeks back that it was nearly 20 years ago that I verbally said, in the presence of many people, that I wanted to be an author. I was at a Caribbean Youth Parliamentary Conference, and I spoke and shared that I would like to be an author. But it took 20 years.
“I didn’t have a story 20 years ago, and so, I had to go through some stuff, I had to experience some challenges in life, to have something that is worth sharing, to have an impact. I just have this knowing in the pit of my stomach that I was called to do more.
“Yes, I experienced success professionally, but that wasn’t enough. And so, I was anxious, I couldn't sit still, I couldn't shake the feeling that I needed to do more…and so, I began to do more. And the more you do, the more you want to do. The more impact you have, the more you want to create. And that’s where the inspiration came from,” Wilson further stated.
The ‘Get Up & Lead” author believes that authenticity is the best policy, and that one should avoid being at that level of perfection where no one can relate to them.
“People tend to gravitate towards leaders that they can relate to…that have similar life experiences. I found that being vulnerable is not a weakness…it is a strength, because it shows someone else that you were able to navigate, to overcome that challenge and attain a lot of success, and it means that they, too, can do it. But if you are not sharing your story, you are not helping anyone,” Wilson noted.
In authoring this book, Wilson spent a great deal of time burning the midnight oil.
“I had some days like that,” she revealed,” crediting God and the Holy Spirit for such strength and commitment.