Growing up, Shirley’s drive and ambition often resulted in feeling like the girl who never “fit in”. She realized early on that pursuing a future equal to the energy bound up in her bones would require her to leave her hometown of Kissimmee, Florida, leaving it in her past. That energy would bring her to ...Windermere, Florida, where she learned to embrace life completely.

Success came easily and quickly. She earned a B.A. in Sociology, married and started a family of her own, and then spent twenty years as a Family Counselor and Program Director for Family Self-Sufficiency. She founded her own home healthcare company and two successful mental health agencies providing services to thousands throughout Central Florida and Polk County, Florida. Prior to pursuing her passion as a Life Coach, where her non-judgmental spirit has guided others in cultivating and maintaining healthy relationships. By her late forties, she had realized a sense of accomplishment.

After the loss of both her parents who died at an early age, and losing her newborn baby son, Miles, within ten days of his healthy birth due to a rare terminal illness, she started second-guessing herself and once again began looking for answers. She began to focus on the things that truly mattered to her: family. She mentally checked off her accomplishments and reflected on them.

It was at this time Shirley realized there was much more for her to do in life. She pursued meditation and prayer, going to the gym to relieve stress, socializing with friends, and completely changing her surroundings. She connected with other homemakers, chased soft business start-ups, volunteered for fundraising events, and joined various charitable boards. As Shirley describes it, “This filled my days but not my burning desire for self-fulfillment. I was having the best time of my life, but I could not find the light.”

When her husband left his laptop on the kitchen counter one day before going to work, she instinctively sat down at the computer and opened a blank page, as though “guided by an invisible force.”

“Thoughts and characters were dancing in my head, imagined from the plethora of stories I’d heard from my years as a mental health counselor. They were screaming to be released.” Shirley quickly realized that those years and all her experience helping others were the breeding ground that had prepared her for the life ahead.

“The words began to flow, rushing forth like water chasing its path to the open sea.” She barely made time to eat, drink or sleep. She was in the light. The muse had struck and it shone brighter and brighter as she released her thoughts onto paper.

The experience was life-altering. For the first time in years, Shirley began to focus on her own internal struggle and self-development. With her husband, Arland Michael Simmons, her two sons, Brian and Myer, and her daughter, Sydney, whose successes she is proud to have influenced, she now believes her life is full and complete. “I present to you Beautiful Otherness: The Story Of One Woman’s Desire To Fit Into Her Own World.

And a heavenly shout-out to son, Miles Simmons.