Hoda Kotb - This Just Speaks to Me: Words to Live by Every Day

I Really Needed This Today

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The truth is, I feel the same way about good quotes as I do about French friesIll never get tired of them! How about you? Honestly, I think most of us feel an endless need for a quick hit of inspiration. Like a galaxy of swirling stars, quotes draw us in with their mesmerizing beauty, each unique and compelling in its simplicity. We read a quote and then we read it again, soaking up a truth expressed by someone whounlike uswas able to artfully transform a state of being into a series of well-crafted lines. Im crushed, Im lonely, Im elated, Im grateful. Thank goodness for these wordsmiths across the decades! Whether they were written using a quill pen or computer keys, we rely on powerful passages to quiet our fears or lift our spirits.

Thats why, in 2019, we decided to gather a years worth of my favorite quotes and publish them in I Really Needed This Today. The concept of tucking a variety of quotes into the pages of a book just made so much sensea convenient, cozy place to turn to for encouragement as you started or ended your day. I thought it was so cool that every morning, people showed up at Rockefeller Plaza holding their copies. Someone would open the book to a calendar date or to a quote that was meaningful to them and ask me to sign on those special few inches. This is my quote, theyd say, claiming ownership of the words that had soothed or fueled them. One reader shared that she used sticky notes to mark particularly notable quotes for her daughter, and she even penned mom insights on those pages, too. Isnt that lovely? Maybe one of those entries served as an unexpected conversation starter between the two. Another woman said she posts a daily quote from the book to her favorite group of women, explaining that its a way to at least say hello every day.

Ive also been so gratified (but not surprised) to hear how many of you, thinking of others, offered the book to friends or family who were struggling and needed a boost. Countless numbers of people showed up at book signings with four, six, even eight books for me to sign as gifts for others. To me that means that we often dont know what to say to someone whos hurting; we cant find the right words. Sharing a book like this is a gesture we can make in hopes that somewhere in the 365 pages, theres a line or a story that will serve as a salve, or at least provide a moment of comfort. Quotes kindly rescue us and the people we love.

And, boy, did the world need rescuing in 2020, when the coronavirus swept across the globe, disruptive and deadly. Life for every person on the planet changed, testing our resolve, devastating our workforce, taking our loved ones. In New York City, empty streets were unnerving, makeshift morgues horrifying. Starving the virus completely reshaped the Big Apple and every community, leaving us all hungry for our old lives. In the heat of battle, health care warriors, first responders, truckers, grocery store workers, mail carriers, and so many others risked their lives for the greater good. Endless thanks. For me professionally, everything was odd, but at least I had a job. So many did not and were suffering. Working alone in Studio 1A was surreal, just me and one cameraman. I missed my colleagues and the buzz of a busy day. All of the energy in 30 Rock was drained and everything else was sanitized. We broadcast heartrending images from around the world day after day: trucks filled with coffins rolling into Italy, fragile seniors in wheelchairs being evacuated from their nursing homes. Thankfully, there were countless stories of unbridled kindness, too, some of which Ill share in this book, as a reminder that we helped one another during a very dark time. On the home front, like millions of families, Joel and I were laser-focused on keeping our two daughters healthy and happy. So many of us spent our days inside... worrying, washing hands, wondering. Everyone was on top of one another and on each others last nerve from time to time. I was terrified for my mother, who handled the isolation with her signature strength and sunny outlook. Every Thursday, Joel, the girls, and I shared a meal with her via Zoom, an iPad seated at our respective dinner tables. Oh, Id love to taste your salmon! shed say, dressed for the special occasion, complete with full makeup. We all looked forward to our weekly dinner dates, grateful to technology for shrinking the miles between us.

Eventually, as each state began to reopen, our country was further rocked by the tragic death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Across the nation, formerly empty streets filled with protesters expressing pain, anger, and demands for change. When violence unfolded and destruction devastated already struggling neighborhoods, our hearts broke yet again. Still, the urgency to do better, to treat one another equally, was potent, stronger than the growing pains that accompany real change. Has there been an awakening? Can we become a more color-blind society? I have faith, more than ever before, that we are trying. The year 2020 has been one of relentless challengephysically, emotionally, mentally. I hope at the moment youre reading this that both our bodies and our communities are continuing to mend in an enduring way.

I suppose the unsettling truth about living is that the journey is a roller coaster of contentment and adversity. Life will never just become predictably smooth for any of us. From one day to the next, everything can changeand haswhich must be why we crave quotes... brief, gentle reminders like We are blessed or Its not too late or Always be kind. Ive realized, too, that a quote that may not resonate with you one day can suddenly become your quote because life has changed you. Words were just words until a deep pain or an immeasurable love ignited their power. Now youre speaking my language! And just like that, your heart is gently buoyed or happily bursting at the seams.

This Just Speaks to Me is simply another opportunity to celebrate our most beloved quotes, and to perhaps heal a bit. So, lets raise our mug of coffee or glass of wine and begin to keep the daily grind at bay for a moment or two. You can be sure that throughout the year ahead, as your perspective on life and your state of being inevitably change,