Women Learning from Women Here comes advice, inspiration, and fun from bestselling author BJ Gallagher. From Katherine Hepburn to her friend Suzanne, Where Would I Be Without You? brings the experiences and life lessons of women from all walks of life. When women choose wisdom over wiles. True wisdom is the ability to learn from other people's experiences, and although we learn from books, movies, and preachers, women also learn from other women. With inspiring stories, funny words of wisdom, and positive affirmations for women, Where Would I Be Without You? brings female empowerment to all generations of strong women. Where would we be without women? Where Would I Be Without You? is all about being thankful for the women in your life (and their wit). Whether our mothers or sisters, writers or inventors, sometimes we have to celebrate the women and girls around us. In this colorful book, Gallagher has collected pages of advice on love, work, growing older, and staying young; making readers ask what is wisdom, what does wisdom mean to these women, and most importantly, where would I be without you? If you’re thankful and grateful for the women around you, and enjoyed books like Badass Affirmations , In Praise of Difficult Women , or The Shared Wisdom of Mothers and Daughters , then you’ll love Where Would I Be Without You . B.J. Gallagher is an international bestselling author, keynote speaker, and workshop leader. When she’s not conducting seminars for women's groups or corporations, she writes women's books as well as bestselling business books. Her book, A Peacock in the Land of Penguins , has sold over four hundred thousand copies and has been printed in twenty-three languages. Gallagher has also been featured on CBS Evening News, the Today Show, Fox News, PBS, CNN, and other television and radio programs. She has also been featured in newspapers and magazines like, O, the Oprah Magazine , The New York Times , and Forbes.com, among others. Where Would I Be Without You? LIFe Lessons from WISe and wonDerFuL women By BJ Gallagher Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC Copyright © 2002 BJ Gallagher All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-57324-455-8 CHAPTER 1 Attitude Is Everything NOBODY can be exactly like me. Sometimes even I have trouble doing it. —Tallulah Bankhead, actress Other women have taught me much about the critical role that attitude plays—ingood times and in bad. Most importantly, they taught me that I can choose my ownattitude! it's not something immutable in my DNA over which I have no control.My attitude is not cast in concrete— in any given moment, I can choose to changeit. Attitude is everything. One of my mother's favorite sayings was "MIND OVER MATTER." She invoked this mantra whenever I was whining or complaining (as kids oftendo). "Mind over matter" was an all-purpose panacea for assorted and sundryproblems. Feeling lonely? Instead of focusing on your aloneness as a problem,view it as an opportunity to do something that requires solitude, like writingor cleaning your closet. Make a gratitude list and see all the wonderful thingsyou have going for you! What do you hangon the walls of your mind? —Eve Arnold, photographer LIFe IS raw maTerIaL. WE ARE ARTISANS. We can sculpt our existence into something beautiful,or debase it into ugliness. It's in our hands. —Cathy Better, poet and writer I WENT TO VISIT MY AUNTIE EL IN SEDONA A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO, AND OVER LUNCH ONEAFTERNOON, I COMMENTED ON HER BEAUTIFUL COLLECTION OF HATS. She smiled knowingly and leaned in to whisper something so that her husbandwouldn't overhear: "I wear these stunning hats so people will look at my faceand not my big tush!" she confided. And she was right—that's exactly what people did. NOTHING CONVEYS THE RIGHT ATTITUDE LIKE A GREAT HAT! IF YOU OBEY ALL THE RULES you miss all the fun. —Katharine Hepburn, actress What separates an ordinary womanfrom an extraordinary one? The belief that she is ordinary. —Jody Williams, Nobel Peace Prize winner YOU too, have the power to recreate yourself over and over again, as many timesas you want. You can try on new identities much like you might try on a newcoat, or experiment with a new hairstyle. The freedom you have as a new womanliving in the western hemisphere at this point in history means you can be atomboy, a scholar, a vamp, a pastor, a cynic, a party girl, a homebody, ahermit, or whatever else strikes your fancy. Your only limit is your creativity,imagination, and energy. There is no cosmetic for beauty like happiness. —Marguerite Gardiner Blessington,Irish writer You don't have to decide what you're going to be, ever. You can be somethingdifferent every day if you want. —Laurie Anderson'sm om we were once WILD Here. Don't let them tame you. —Isadora Duncan,mother of Modern dance Where would I be if it weren't for my women friends? We laugh together, crytogether, compare notes on our children, and complain about our jobs. I dependon them