Every once in awhile you see a post on social media or hear something on the news about show stoppers. It’s usually in reference to an incredible performance or something that happened during a performance. It can also be something horrible that seems to make life stop. 

Recently, I was working with a client who had experienced a great loss. This client was in the midst of incredible grief. As the client was processing emotions around the loss, she looked through tears and said, “You know, I never thought about it before, but it was as if the show stopped. It’s like I was watching a show and it stopped. I never connected it before, but that’s what it was like. Is that all life is? A show? Something that can stop in a second?”

This brought me to a memory of another client with whom I worked. When that client had processed giving birth—long labor, C-section, complications and more—the client described seeing her child for the first time and said, “It was a show stopper. Seeing my child crying and knowing he was alive was a showstopper.”

The bottom line is that we all have showstoppers in our lives. Some have more than others. The meaning of each may be different and I’m voting that there is something attached to that meaning that defines it as a showstopper. 

I became curious about the showstoppers in my life and what moves them from ordinary to extraordinary. 

Here’s what I came up with for my list. I realize that not all these things will be present for each showstopper but I’m fairly confident that at least a couple of these things are present in each showstopping moment:

• The “mattering” of the event is high.
• The impact of the event is high. On the 1-10 scale, these are the 9’s and 10’s.
• Core values are honored
• There is something “magical” about the event.
• These are usually the things we remember and can recount, even years later.
• There is deep sorrow from the event

What are the showstoppers in your life? What makes them a showstopper? I’d love to hear about them.

Keep SHINING in Your Brilliance!