It’s a pretty accepted fact that one of mankind’s greatest fears, beyond pain or death, is public speaking. Well, I knew that very fear all too well. I am no different than anybody else in that regard. But I couldn’t let that stop me and I couldn’t let my fear of public speaking be another one of those things that knocked me down. Otherwise I would never have a chance to tell people what’s in my heart. Instead I started getting up in front of audiences – small at first and – and gave myself a little OJT – and I started to be OK with it. And then I was coached and practiced more, got in front of larger groups, realized that a combination of my more polished speaking and my message mattered to other people, won them over and finally recognized I had overcome my fear of public speaking. Now, instead, it is replaced with excitement and a desire to do better every time I have the chance. As we are kicking off my upcoming book tour with the release of “Live Courageously”, we are scheduling some exciting appearances and so now I am actually working with an off Broadway professional speech and choreography coach, I will have stage dressing and audio visual support and will be in full stunt woman protective gear when I enter the stage. As my talk progresses, I will actually shed most of that protective gear. It is a metaphor for things that protect us behind which we hide. As a stuntwoman, yes, I need protection. I didn’t actually die 8 times on the Titanic – look for a future blog on that subject – thanks to protective gear. But in life, to be self-realized it is essential that we shed those things behind which we are only hiding. But whatever you do, just don’t ask me to take off my MAC makeup.

There’s a cute expression for a charming child’s toy…”Weebles wobble, but they don’t fall down”. Unfortunately, it’s not true in the real world. People, lots of people, maybe most people fall down some time during their lives. Some fall down often and unfortunately some of them never get back up. I have fallen down all my life, I just found a way to get paid for it. But seriously, you don’t have a career like this one without some very serious self examination and I believe I chose getting back up for a living to understand at a “ground” level what it takes to get up time and time again. Maybe what some other people can do is figure out what knocked them down and decide what they are going to do about it. So maybe you aren’t a stunt person, but perhaps if you stutter and that has held you back, learning some of the tricks of public speaking and forcing yourself to get up in front of groups helps you to overcome that, then perhaps a speech therapist might lead you to become a great sales person. Maybe you get knocked down because you are not formally educated. Right now there are lots of government programs, more than in a very long time, for people to get back to school and get an education or refocus their education. Get back up and try it. The point is, don’t feel alone when you get knocked down, don’t envy the Weebles – remember, they’re just toys. Figure out what knocked you down and decide what you are going to do about it and then “TAKE ACTION!” Then by the way if you are standing, reach your hand out to help someone else to get back up…you’ll both win!

Terri Cadiente is a wife, mom, life coach, stuntwoman and jet-ski world record holder—who once ended up in a gutter.

Terri grew up in a broken home and felt unloved. It “tinted” her perception of life, she says, and she didn’t have the internal structure to know which way to go. The external structure of high school guided her, but after she graduated, when that structure was gone, her life turned upside down. She says, “I just imploded in a big way.”

She became a drug addict and fought that battle for more than seven years. But one night, Terri had a life-changing epiphany: “I found myself bloodied and laying in a greasy gutter of the street and that’s when I said to God, ‘If You’re who You say You are, will You help me?’ … I realized for the first time in my life that I had a choice in the matter.”

Terri explains that God showed her how great she is, that she has value. She knew life was worth living. “I pushed up from the ground that night, and I walked away from that gutter. And I wasn’t sure exactly where I was going, but I knew with every step I would never return back,” she says.

“I was walking away into a new direction. … My identity was not going to be wrapped up in being a drug addict. I was choosing a different way.”

She did not go through a program but was clean after a short time in recovery. She says God gave her the grace to make the choice. “I chose to walk it with Him.”

She has come a long way since that night in the gutter 21 years ago. As a stuntwoman, she worked on the TV show 24 for the last three years and has been a stunt double for Jessica Simpson and Lindsay Lohan. She is also a 15-year Kawasaki world-record holder and has been a life coach for the last six years. Now she is moving out of stunt work to fully concentrate on coaching. Her life message and passion is to “champion the authentic identity of every individual.” She says her heart beats for the freedom of each person.

Terri hasn’t always lived in the freedom she wants to help others attain. She says that because of what she experienced as a young person, fear was her master. She says the enemy uses fear to confound and imprison people. She believes she is to be an advocate for the restoration of people’s honor and dignity.

One group she is passionately seeking to restore is those exploited by the sexual slave trade. On a visit to Taipei, Taiwan, she saw firsthand the reality of this horrible business. She was certainly burdened for those victimized in that country. But when she returned home, she became even more indignant. She says Americans, and even more so Christians, should be concerned and outraged about this type of bondage. “Slavery of any kind is not OK,” she adds.

To help people understand the horror of sex trade reality, Terri created the seven-minute documentary Stuck in Traffic. When people watch it she wants them to be still for a minute and receive what they see, but also to be uncomfortable enough to react.

Terri is reaching out to a larger audience with her new book, Live Courageously. She wants to help readers “choose to be the real you,”to accept themselves and the way God has made them, and not try to be somebody else. She explains, “Living courageously … has to do with experiencing the freedom to be who we really are. And that’s not outwardly, but it’s inside where it counts. … Oftentimes we see our identities as like being tied to what we do. … Identity has much more to do with our being than our doing.”

Terri has overcome many obstacles to live a courageous life. She shares her heart to help others confront their fear and shame so they too can live in victory and freedom.

Visit Ragdoll Restoration Foundation for more information about the documentary Stuck in Traffic. Click here to purchase Live Courageously.

Written By: Charismamag.com May 01, 2009

It never occurred to me to think about why, specifically, I wanted to become an author, and then I realized that I have always had, or at least for a long time now, a message inside my soul that I wanted to be able to share with more people. When that clicked, it suddenly became vitally important to me to find an avenue to reach a large number of people and through encouragement, practice and training, I recognized that I could write well (with a little help) and one day I had the great fortune to meet with the Destiny Publishing people. They shared my beliefs and enthusiasm and here I am. Now about to deliver my message to an entire universe of people for enjoyment and betterment and my message is Live Courageously.