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This is an excerpt of the story featured in the newly-released bestseller sequel The Twelve Secrets of Highly Successful Women by Gail McMeekin.

Find out how you can win a free copy – autographed by yours truly – at the end of this story!

I came to the United States on an exhibition tour before the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. I had been training in Ukraine since age five in rhythmic gymnastics. Gymnastics was my entire life. But when it came time to get back on the bus and return to my country at the end of our U.S. tour, I chose not to board. I was fourteen.

Instead, I accepted an invitation from a family in North Carolina to stay in the United States to attend school and learn English.

After high school, I went to college and had the sort of crisis most of us reserve for midlife. When I retired from competitive gymnastics, I gained weight and began to question who I was if I wasn’t on the mat. I struggled silently with depression for years, and eventually attempted suicide.

While recovering in the hospital, I felt a weight lift from my shoulders and heard a voice say, “No matter what mistakes you think you have made, the truth about who you are is unchanged.”

If I am truly unchanged, and my slate is always clean, I may as well dream big and write a brand new story for my life. And that’s exactly what I did.

I moved to Boulder, Colorado and attended a university founded by a renowned Tibetan monk. I began to establish a new self-image and empowering belief system. I worked extremely hard, and used my training as a world-class gymnast to wipe out the very indoctrination of perfectionism I had spent so many years cultivating, so that I could learn to love myself as a woman and heal my soul.

I had been trained to work hard – ceaselessly, tirelessly hard, day in and day out – and here I was sitting on my butt, meditating. What a flip-flop! The experience stretched my mind and my heart immeasurably – I moved from go, go, go to allowing, receiving and asking for help. Learning these skills was a tremendous challenge.

After graduating from this amazing university, I went to see an immigration attorney. He told me that I could get a green card in one of two ways: secure a job at a major corporation, or get married.

I looked at my options. Not surprisingly, corporations were not hiring spiritual mavens at the time. The second road was equally scary, because I had never been in love. I had three months until my student visa expired. I was running out of time.

There was a lot at stake. I needed to crack my heart open and allow my beloved to enter my life and love me just as I was – or face being deported.

And so began “the Summer of Love,” during which I had five marriage proposals. Eventually, I dreamed that I should go to California, as this was where I would find my beloved.

I traveled up and down the West Coast, meeting many people and “kissing many frogs.” My three months ran out, and still I hadn’t met “the one.” I headed south to San Francisco – I didn’t have a job or know anyone there, but I’d been cast in a theatre production. I was continuously terrified by thought of being deported.

There was a full moon on my very first night in San Francisco, and I took a walk through Union Square at midnight. While I was admiring a window display, I noticed a tall, handsome man in the reflection of the glass. When I turned around, he greeted me in Russian. My jaw dropped. We grabbed one another’s hands and started spinning around like children – right there in Union Square – looking up at the stars and the full moon. We were overwhelmed with joy.

We haven’t let go of each other’s hands since. I feel blessed with more fun, deep intimacy and creative passion than I ever thought was possible.

These days, I harness that same magic and joy to help both women and couples create the lives of their dreams. Get in touch and let’s work on bringing your own fairytale to life.