Accomplishing the “Impossible”

This morning I received a message from one of my personal heroes that included a quote from one of his. The quote is “It always seems impossible until it’s done,” said by Nelson Mandela. Sitting at my desk this morning, I started thinking about how that really is true. Every one of us has obstacles to overcome, goals to achieve and dreams that may come true one day, if and only if the stars align in such a way to make them possible.

As women, we are faced with obstacles every day of our lives. Depending on where you grew up, it may have been “women are supposed to…” or “you can’t do that because only BOYS do that” or even “nice girls don’t…” Maybe your messages were less about your gender and more about the color of your skin, your race, you wealth (or lack of) or sexuality. Think about all of the times that you didn’t listen to or heed those words. I know that the times I didn’t do “what I was supposed to do” resulted in success, some failure but overall, incredible learnings. And every single time I took my own path, I gained just a little bit more confidence that I was on the right path and that I could handle just about anything that came my way. Now I definitely benefit from a kind of privilege that not everyone enjoys so I KNOW that my path has been easier than that of many others. But what we all have in common is the doubt that we’ll be successful in the trails we’re blazing. It is only after we have tried that we can turn the “impossible” into the “possible.”  And if that attempt results in failure, we take what we learned and try again and again and again, making adjustments along the way.

So the next time you find yourself at a crossroad, feeling like you should give up or knowing what needs to be done but you are afraid to do it, jump forward--step out and take a leap of faith. Make that emotional investment in yourself and find the courage (even if it’s just a tiny bit) to move forward. One day you’ll look back with confidence and see all the impossible things that YOU have done.

Have a great day!!