Love Where You At, Know Where You Wanna Go

At the tender age of 27, I’ve done a lot, lost a lot, gained a lot, and grew like hell.

Sometimes I find myself looking back with anger at time wasted. I have to kick myself as a reminder that quite honestly, no time was wasted at all. It’s all been time learning lessons.

The greatest lesson being that I have to love exactly who I am right here and right now if I ever want to grow.

It’s very easily said, but pretty difficult to do.

The concept of loving where you are, but knowing where you want to go is a task we must attempt to master every single day.

“The concept of loving where you are, but knowing where you want to go is a task we must attempt to master every single day.”

If I am going to make anything out of myself, I have to make that choice everyday.

Often, we can get stuck in hating our past and our present that we end up….well….stuck.

If you’re ashamed of where you have been and where you come from then you will never be able to grow.

I acknowledge that in my past there has been failure and setback that has seemed like doors slamming in my face. In reality, these occurrences were simply building the foundation for who I am today and for who I am to become tomorrow.

Right now I have an interesting work experience that presents itself with different challenges that I never expected to face in my career. When I first encountered these issues, I was really caught off guard and frankly unprepared. I was knee deep in a whole different world I had very little background experience to face. And I believe this is generally the case when your family works their way up through what some call the “transitioning class.” We enter a professional world we’re really unprepared for and it can lead to a lot of insecurities.

These insecurities started to eat away at me. I didn’t know what I was doing or why I was even doing it. Nothing made sense. I started to write out post it notes on my wall exploring different career options and goals. The post-it’s planned out potential life paths in twenty different directions. They switched places every night. Some moved twice a day.

Eventually, I chose something that wasn’t even on the wall. I chose a path I had always wanted to do but had left behind the idea once I moved. I was only able to make this choice because I did a whole lot of soul searching and a whole lot of acknowledging of my path.

“I was only able to make this choice because I did a whole lot of soul searching and a whole lot of acknowledging of my path.”

Oh yea, and of course gratitude. I started to find gratitude in the situation I was in. I started to speak up for ways to make my work situation work for me. I made sure that I learned something new every day. Now I have completely different life skills that will complement my career. Had I stayed in the classroom and never went on this journey, I would not have learned any of these new skills.

I once heard someone speaking about life in peaks and valleys, but in the sense of learning and mastery. When it feels like you’re down, maybe you’re just learning. When it feels like you’re up, that’s when you have mastery. You will never grow if you don’t allow yourself the discomfort of learning. You will never grow if you don’t allow yourself the opportunity of mastery.

I like to think about it this way….

You have to love where you are and know where you want to go.

Loving where you are means loving yourself exactly as you are with all your mistakes, flaws, failures, success, gifts, skills, and strengths that have formed you.

Knowing where you want to go is knowing your goals and your hopes and dreams and making plans to achieve them.

These are the peaks and valleys in which you learn and grow, love and know, rise and fall….

“The beauty is that every single one of us has the potential to do amazing things.”

The beauty is that every single one of us has the potential to do amazing things. There is nothing that divides me from you from Beyonce from Obama from the Dalai Lama. We’re all great and we are all built with greatness. Only we can tap into our own potential if we begin with loving ourselves and loving our journey.

So how do I remind myself of this?

I say, start today with determination, with perseverance, with drive, focus and confidence. Use your past to comfort you and your goals to guide you. Learn something new every day.

Most importantly, love where you at, know where you wanna go.