If you could switch lives with a famous person for a week, who would it be and why?

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One Week in Oprah’s Shoes

If I could switch lives with a famous person for one week, I would choose Oprah Winfrey.

And let me be honest: before that week was over, I would find a way to get Healing in Broken Places into somebody’s hands.

You give an author that kind of opportunity, and you cannot expect her to forget she wrote a book!

But beyond that little confession, I would want to experience the conversations. To sit across from people whose lives have taken unexpected turns and ask the questions that help them tell the truth about who they are.

What carried you through?
What did success fail to fix?
When did you finally believe your voice mattered?

Those are the things I would want to know.

As a writer, I understand how much a person can carry quietly. Sometimes a story begins with something they have never said aloud. Sometimes the words “I understand” give them enough courage to keep talking.

I would love to experience what it feels like to make room for those stories on such a large scale. To introduce readers to a book that helps them feel seen. To give someone an opportunity they once thought was beyond their reach. To watch a conversation continue long after everyone has left the room.

Of course, I would also enjoy a little comfort. Let’s not pretend I would turn down a beautiful place to rest and a meal I did not have to cook.

Still, a week in someone else’s shoes would come with everything those shoes carry. The expectations. The decisions. The scrutiny. The parts of their life we never see when we admire it from a distance.

That makes me pause.

Would I want to trade my whole life, or would I want to learn what becomes possible when a voice reaches that many people?

Because I have people I would miss. I have a story I am still writing. And I have dreams I want to experience with my own name attached to them.

So yes, give me one week in Oprah’s shoes. Let me listen, learn, ask questions—and perhaps mention my books once or twice. Okay, three times.

Then let me come home as Val, with a few new ideas and the courage to put them to work.

Whose life would you choose for one week—and what would you hope to bring back into your own?