One of the biggest lessons I am learning is around sharing the journey of what I am doing while I am traveling. This past weekend, I went home to visit my family for the first time since I left my corporate job. Not only that, but I went to a wedding with over one hundred family members, and heard what seemed like every single person’s opinion on my life. And to be honest, it was hard. Really hard. But also motivating. I allowed me to share my viewpoint on life but also to stand strong in my mission of what I am building.
My parents are very conventional. They live completely stable lives with a house and careers where they show up to a building to work. My parents have never left the country. I am currently country hopping. I don’t have a building to work in or one specific house. They went to medical and nursing school, which is clear and cut, and I earned a degree in marketing, which is infinite in possibilities. There is no one single path like there is in the medical field. And the unknowingness scares them. It creates fear for them. It excites the hell out of me. We operate on a different belief and value system. And that's okay.
Sometimes our parents want so deeply for us to succeed that they want to encourage us to take the safest route to the destination as possible. It is their job to keep us safe. It is like an overactive ego. Our ego just speaks fear into us to keep us safe. That doesn't mean as a daughter, I should succumb to the safest route and listen to the fear. It does mean that I could do a better job at sharing the journey of where I am, what I am doing, and how I am growing.
So mom, this is for you. I am safe. I am growing. My soul knows deep down where I will end up. I am listening. Trusting. I can either listen to my environment for agreement or I can choose to listen for insight. And right now, I am listening for insight. I am not trying to live like most people do. I see value in plotting success on a graph seeing steady growth until the end BUT I see more excitement and adventure in the risk that comes with an exponential graph. A graph that has points leading towards an upwards spiral. It's unconventional. This is no longer about money. This is about impact. I love you and I know you want me to be safe, but I am on a mission. I know it feels like I went off into the unknown of Bali. Who knows what I would discover, who I would meet, who I could become when I return. I know it feels scary. But I am still me, ever evolving, but still me.