The Disbelievers

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I remember starting out my career as a hotelier and my family saying – “She won’t last a day!” Surprise, surprise I did. Close to 10 years later I can say I have come a long way, but I have an even longer road ahead of me. My dreams are larger than me and a lot of people including your family will smile at you and say – “keep going, if it happens it happens.” Another famous dialogue I get hear very often is, “Why you bothering, I can get it done by someone else you relax.” A.K.A. We feel you are inexperienced and we don’t want to embarrass ourselves in front of the world. I say “Fair enough” and walk away.

These are the people that are closest to you. The ones that have held your hand and picked you up after you fell of your bike when you were a kid. The ones that laughed with you and at you when you did something stupid. These are the people who hold you closest to your heart but yet with time things change and not always for the best.

How many times has it happened, you are really excited about sharing something with someone special but the person in front doesn’t respond the way you hoped. There are a number of reasons for this.

1.     They want to shelter you from heartbreak cause they don’t think you will be able to pull it off.
2.     They think your work isn’t up to par and think you will fail in any case.
3.     They are jealous.

Don’t worry about no. 3. These are the people you wouldn’t want around anyway. Like they say “Good riddance to Bad rubbish”

No. 1 is a valid reason and you should take their reactions with a pitch of salt cause you know in the end they mean well and always want what’s best for you.

No. 2 is the issue. This is when things start getting ugly. When they talk to you, you can feel how incompetent you are in their eyes. Then the thoughts like “If the my people don’t believe in me why should the rest of the world etc. etc. etc…..” But news flash people – THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO CHANGE THEIR MINDS. This is because they have known you so long, they know the pattern in which you function and so their conclusions are warranted. So what does one do with this lot that we cant live without?

“Channel the ENERGY” Instead of thinking how can they do something like this… Blah… Blah.. Blah…. Stop and ask yourself – “Have you given them any reason to think otherwise?” The answer is more than often No! So then this becomes redemption time. So saddle in… This one is for the long haul and it aint gonna be easy. This lot is the toughest to shake but WHEN (not IF) you do, it’s like finding the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. While this will break your heart to realise this will make you a better person and professional. The criticisms will come, the nasty comments etc. Take those comments and channel it into taking yourself to the next level. Cause lets face it we always have room for improvement.

So more importantly do this for yourself. The road to success is long, trying, discouraging and full of disappointments. But with a little bit of practice we learn the ropes and tend to start climbing up much faster.

Like I always say Life is an uphill climb….. But view at the end is GREAT!

So Smile, Breath and Go Slowly….

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