News / People
Effects of Winning the Lottery Explored in Coni Meyer’s Book Crystalline Moments
There is hardly anyone who would not want to win the lottery. It is a fantasy to millions of people across America, but one woman’s story shows the devastating effects that winning the lottery could have on one’s family. Donna Mikkin was an up and coming real estate agent in New York City, she had won the Rookie of the Year Award in her firm and was in the top 1% of real estate agents in New York state when she became a trainer and a coach. On February 12, 2007, everything changed when her husband called with a winning lottery ticket.
They had won one of the biggest jackpots in the State’s history and the shock was overwhelming. Donna could not shower, brush her teeth or even comb her hair. They stopped cleaning their home and would “walk around like zombies” in complete shock. Donna began to drink so much water the doctor actually said she could drown. She remembers those first few days as simply dreadful, she was expecting karma to come her way hard. In her mind, something this good could not happen without something bad happening. In many ways, her reactions could be equated some kind of loss. The loss of a job or home could actually create the exact same responses.
It took a crystalline moment for her to find happiness again. She was going back to real estate. Five years after winning the lottery, she woke up and realized that to be happy she had to do what made her happy. She realized that her life of being a real estate agent and coaching gave her reason to get up in the morning. She also discovered that she no longer had to work for money but had the luxury of coaching by design.
How would you handle such a huge, overwhelming event like winning the lottery? Would you be able to handle the responsibility or would you end up like many that we see on TV who end up worse than they started out? Would you be like Donna and realize that the universe had provided what she needed to be living the life she had once known and loved?
You can read the entirety of Donna Mikkin’s story, as well as many other inspiring stories in the book Crystalline Moments by Coni Meyers coming out January 7th.
