As I prepare to leave Factor10 Consulting after three years to start an internship at a leading retail company, I have had an opportunity to reflect on how life changes – and how we learn and grow because of those changes.
As children, we are filled with dreams, often big dreams, of the kind of lives we want to live when we grow up. With the naivety and self-belief of youth, we believe in infinite possibility, often to find that our dreams change as we grow up, impacted by what we think the world would expect from us. Our self-belief can turn to disbelief and this disbelief becomes a limitation to what we think we can become and achieve.
This girl had no idea what she wanted to be when she grew up. At some point she wanted to become the manager of a spaza shop because she understood the process of making profits from her EMS class. At some other time, a pharmacist because that would prove how smart she was. In high school, she wanted to become a dietician because that wouldn’t only help her make money, but it would also help her understand the idea of eating healthy, so she would not look older than the rest of her classmates as they all aged! As she grew and changed, her dreams grew and changed too. Today, she has completed her honours degree in Industrial and Organisational Psychology. This little girl is me – finding myself on the road to fulfilling a dream which is quite different to some of my earlier ones!
In my first professional role, working at Factor10 Consulting, a company that focuses on coaching and development, I have come to know and understand that, whilst change can happen without us, growth does not automatically follow. It takes courage, commitment and self-awareness to realise that our dreams do not have to be fixed and we can continually create new visions for ourselves professionally and personally. We can tap into our strengths, optimise our energy and create our brands, as we want, and by doing this, we have the power to change our environment. We have the power to Ignite the fire of dreams and growth within us.
I am reminded of a quote by Marianne Williamson; “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
We have no way of telling what the future will hold and whether or not all our dreams will come true. What we can control however, is our commitment to growth. We can grow our courage to leap into any opportunities we may have, we can grow our faith in ourselves and believe that we will succeed, and we can grow our connections to the circle of people who care and cheer for us. And in doing so, we may suddenly realise, we are living our dream!
So as I say farewell to my very first working home and a community I will always be a part of, here’s to growth and dreams – a beautifully interconnected relationship …
