The kind of ordinary-people-doing-extraordinary-things journalism we need more of.

Converted couch-potato Ernestine Shepherd: 80 years young, looks spectacular with a mega-watt smile, and a Guinness Book World Record holder in 2010, 2011.

Now world-renowned for her age-defying feats, there is much to be learned from this soft-spoken, Baltimore-based giant.

One of the most important factors in whether we maximize our full potential or waste it boils down to THE POWER OF OUR WHY.

So what is Ernestine Shepherd’s ‘why’? What caused her so late in life — past the age of 70 — to suddenly become an avid fitness freak and competitive bodybuilder? What sparked her dedication?

It wasn’t what you think; it wasn’t the same-old, ‘Well, I’m getting older and taking all these meds and I want to lose weight and get healthy.’ No, that stereotypical motivation wasn’t her driving force at all.

Instead, her why was so deep and powerful — powerful enough to start her day at 2:30 a.m. each morning without an alarm clock — because of a promise she’d made to her sister, who had recently left this dimension from a brain aneurysm.

Besieged by depression and a slew of health problems, Shepherd says her sister appeared to her saying, “Get up and do what I asked you to do … It took me a good two weeks after that, but I made up my mind that I was going to fulfill the dream that my sister wanted,” Shepherd told Prevention Magazine and Prevention.com during the video segment below.

Born 1936, Shepherd was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records (2010, 2011), hailed as the World’s Oldest Competitive Female Bodybuilder.

ANOTHER FASCINATING PART OF SHEPHERD’S story … and something that goes unnoticed by the vast majority of people and motivators … is that Shepherd’s daily ritual includes singing an uplifting song to herself. A mantra, an upbeat “Can Do” vibration that flows deep into her cells and soul … Every Day. Much like the monks and Titans of Meditation do on a daily basis. Extremely significant — as is taking note of her reading what she calls her “devotions” on a daily basis.

The song she chooses, “Oh, I Can’t Sit Down,” is from the 1934 folk opera “Porgy and Bess” created by famed composer George Gershwin in collaboration with novelist Dubose Heyward and Ira Gershwin (source, Wikipedia.com). “Porgy and Bess was first performed in Boston on September 30, 1935, and featured an entire cast of classically trained African-American singers—a daring artistic choice at the time. After suffering from an initially unpopular public reception due in part to its racially charged theme, the Houston Grand Opera production of the opera in 1976 gained it new popularity, eventually becoming one of the best-known and most frequently performed operas.” — Wikipedia.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwXdvLqOpvI

Story in U.K’s Daily Mail http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3654737/I-m-determined-dedicated-disciplined-Bodybuilding-grandma-proudly-shows-incredibly-ripped-physique-celebrates-80TH-birthday.html