Hey guys! I have been so busy lately that I haven’t had time to put my thoughts, feelings and adventures down on “paper” and touch base with my fans (which I love to do). And, it is way past due!

Let me start off by getting a little personal. As you all know, I am lovin’ life!!!! What you may or may not know is that it’s not always easy. It’s simply a choice I choose to make. We all get sick, frustrated, worn down, discouraged, annoyed and downright poopy (excuse my French) at times!

What it boils down to is whether or not you/we let it control us. For me, the key to lovin’ life is FAITH, HEART & SOUL! Faith to fight the good fight, heart to believe and soul to search within! These are the three things that get me through life, keep my spirits high, my dreams going and a smile on my face! If you’ve noticed over the past several months, I have been wearing this on TV … on my ring gear, tank tops, elbow sleeves, etc. … All I have to do is look down, see these words and remember that nothing can get in the way of my dream; the dreams that I currently live in!

SmackDown had the pleasure of going overseas last week. We performed four straight nights; two in Belfast, Ireland one in Frankfurt, Germany and the last night in Zurich, Switzerland. The shows were absolutely amazing, and the fans even better! BUT, in these four straight days, I fractured my nose (leaving me with two awesome black eyes and a lumpy, bloody, swollen nose – which I proudly wear as a badge of honor) and a VERY, VERY NEAR plane crash.

First, the nose! Now I don’t like to give Victoria ANY credit whatsoever, but she did land a great clothesline straight across my face and that takes talent (I hope you can hear the sarcasm in my voice)! She may have bloodied me, but she sure hasn’t beaten me!!! Mark my words, I will get revenge … and oh, how sweet it will be! I have the heart of a fighter and this is one fight she is NOT going to win!

Now, the near plane crash!!! Let me start by saying that I can sleep through anything … and I mean anything, fire alarms, wake-up calls, hurricanes, etc. … But, this woke me up wide-eyed and white-knuckled!

We were headed into Zurich. The ride had been bumpy, due to turbulence, pretty much the entire ride. I woke up to what felt like one of those rides where they raise you way up in the air and then just drop you straight down. Normally, I would enjoy this, but I knew it wasn’t supposed to be happening. After we dropped so quickly, we literally shot straight up into the air. I could see the ground (we were supposed to land and were maybe about 3,000 feet high), which was pretty wicked.

Apparently, there was a slight mix-up with the air traffic control. I don’t know if they thought we had landed already or what, but they sent another plane to takeoff (which this is where the problem lies). The big drop we hit wasn’t due to turbulence; it was due to the force we felt when this other plane flew right by us. We shot straight up into the air (quick thinking on our pilots part) to avoid crashing into the plane. I don’t know how he was able to gain control. We attempted to land again, but didn’t. At this point, I really didn’t think we were going to make it.

I was pretty calm (probably just due to being tired from the tour) for the most part. The pilot came over the intercom and was speaking a different language. It clearly wasn’t English and all I could think is that he was telling us that we were about to die. Luckily, that wasn’t the case. Now there were lots of thoughts going through my head. Should I turn on my phone and try calling my parents? Should I go ahead and run up and down the aisle to tell everyone I loved them? Then I thought about a hat I have that says “Faith” on it. I have a lot of faith and that is what kept me calm. I began to meditate on the scripture that is inscribed on this hat:

“My heart shall not fear.” Psalm 27:3.

I closed my eyes and repeated this over and over again. After about 15 more scary minutes, we landed. Best part, we landed safely. What a close call!

No matter what you do, it’s all about faith, heart & soul! Dream big. Love Life!

-Michelle McCool