Diva Las Vegas!

Diva Las Vegas!!! That's right, I just returned from my first trip ever to Vegas and I am still floating on cloud 9 from my experiences. I had the absolute pleasure of attending David Neagle's ERS seminar at the MGM Grand. I have been listening to David speak for some time so I had a slight clue as to what the seminar would be about, but my, oh my, did it knock my stilettos off! Oh...and for the record...stilettos and the Vegas strip...Lord help me for saying this, but OUCH! Not smart! I've been home nearly 5 days and my poor diva dogs are still whining.
The ERS seminar was such a life changing event. No doubt you will be hearing more from me in the future on how this seminar impacted my life, but for now...I'm going to share one of my major ah-ha moments. It occurred to me how many times I have come just inches shy of accomplishing my goal. David used the expression that if you aren't standing on the edge, then you are taking up too much room. How many times do we hear that voice in our head telling us to go forth and immediately find a million excuses for why we can't, won't or shouldn't. Case in point...
So...I'm sitting at the bar ( okay Dodies...I can hear the laughs already), but truly...I just got in from a very long, late night and didn't have the energy to drag my weary diva self up to my room. I stopped in for just one glass of wine. While sitting at the bar, I looked over in the direction of the very first slot machine I had played the day I arrived in Vegas. The moment I said out loud in my mind that as soon as I finished this glass of wine, I was going to go play that machine...a woman walked on over to it, sat down, put $5.00 in the machine and won $1500.00! OYYYYY!!!! To say I wanted to kick myself is a total understatement...now I'm a bit peeved at myself. So I take my glass of wine ( which by the way I could have done minutes earlier ) and walked out of the bar and towards another slot machine. I was bound and determined to WIN! So I go to the machine just to the left of the one that just paid off. I played for a while...loosing, winning, loosing, winning and finally tired and walked on over to another machine. I put my voucher in, played a bit more and again that annoying voice came in my head and said go back to the last machine. So I cashed out and back I went. Play big I told myself...and so I hit maximum bet each and every time while quickly watching my money go down the drain. One last tap on the maximum bet button and the machine wouldn't spin...I was a $1.00 shy of making the maximum bet. The voice spoke again...this time it said..." Do you really want to lose another $1.00?" Foolishly I hit the button for just 2 lines ( the remaining credits in the machine ) and watched the spinning wheel stop on one, two and then 3 glorious Lions. I couldn't believe my eyes!!! Sadly, I could believe my ears however as there were no bells ringing, no musical fan fare...just dead silence. I hobbled away from my seat and on my way out of the casino I ran in to one of the employees. We struck up a wonderful conversation discussing how the casinos really were a metaphor for so many things in life. I shared my tale of woe with him. He asked me to show him the machine I had been playing and I walked him over to the machine that still had the 3 lions prominently displayed in the window. He got the funniest look to his face and then he said, Gina, had you played the maximum bet??? I told him the story and the look on his face turned apologetic. He then explained that had I spent that additional dollar I would have hit the $800.00 jackpot. It was that close...just one measly dollar away and I allowed that voice in my head to say STOP!
1 glass of chardonnay.....$8.00
15 minutes in a Vegas Casino possible winnings....$2300.00
Lessons learned......priceless!
I licked my wounds, returned to my room and got on line to confirm my return flight reservation. The screen asked me if I wanted to upgrade to business class. That little voice inside my head attempted to speak, but I stifled the annoyance and clicked YES. From here on in, my flights and my life will be on upgraded status! Life's too short to stop just shy of something wonderful. Play big to win big!!!
Diva~Heel Thyself!