Why You Need to Bet on Yourself, Even if The Odds Are Against You
People place their limitations on us all the time. More often than not, it’s the ones closest to us: our friends, our colleagues, and our families. It’s not that they don’t mean well (although we can argue that some of them do); some of them are just projecting their fear onto us. And it’s not that we don’t experience those same fears—many of us are working through them as we speak; the difference between them and us is that for us to create the realities we want in the world, we have to allow ourselves to dream, take the risk, stretch the edges of possibility. If you think what I’m saying is a bunch of wish-wash rubbish, allow me to list a couple of achievements that people in my life deemed impossible:
18 years ago, my parents told my sister and me that they wouldn’t be able to send us on an overseas trip with our choir. When our conductor found out, he paid for our trip.
13 years ago, a uni student advisor told me I wouldn’t get into the English Lit department unless I started my degree from scratch. I spoke to the head of the department, and I got in.
9 years ago, my father told me I wouldn’t be able to afford to live abroad. My partner kept on encouraging me. I moved to Spain six months later.
5 years ago, an old colleague said it would be impossible to get a job in Germany with my language level. Four months later, I landed a job and moved to Berlin.
A year ago, an old friend told me I didn't know what I was doing in my Art for Play bizz. Now I’ve facilitated creative workshops for two companies.
Just a couple of months ago, an ex-friend said (behind my back) that there’s no way I could freelance in Germany. Now I’m freelancing full-time.
You see, I wasn’t meant to be doing any of this, according to the status quo. But against all odds—I, a person of colour, who grew up in South Africa—have seen the impossible become possible. Does it take a shit ton of sacrifice? Yes. Did I lose people along the way? Yes. But I’m too rebellious, too audacious, far too devoted to my vision to not see it through.
All around me, I see folks losing hope in their dreams. They’ve stopped picking up their passion projects. They’re putting their creative projects on the back burner. I get it. We are living in a broken system. But I don’t want that for you. We need storytellers, world-shakers and artists to do what they do best: create. We need more stories of hope for our collective imagination. Imagination sparks hope. Possibility. Change. It connects us back to our agency.
This is why I created “Into the Woods” a creative embodiment coaching program. It is a three-month creative cohort for creatives to build momentum on their passion projects and remind themselves that their creative expression matters. That there’s a body of work that needs to be shared with others in the world. Does that pique your curiosity?
