Have you ever wondered who your people are? The ones that are like you, motivate you, inspire you? Some of us consider our family our people or the folks we grew up with. For those of us that are more intentional about who we surround ourselves with, finding “our people” can take a little more work.
If we don’t identify with others by the external – designer clothes, sports teams, type of work we do, but instead identify with others by our thoughts, our mindset and our belief in continual improvement…how do you find THOSE people?
The answer is as simple as it is scary.
For many of us that are always in search of our higher self, we identified that we were different early on:
We cared more. About everything. Winning, losing, literally, how we played the game.
Even as children, we were in a race to get… somewhere. I can remember the first time I was in a huge crowd – a high school pep rally and thought “I don’t belong here, these are not my people.” I was probably one of a hundred kids thinking that same thing, all for different reasons. For me, it kept happening. In the military. In the corporate world. Out with my peers.
Even as I learned more and grew more, I still found myself searching for “my people”. I had friends, relationships and by all accounts a great, successful life – all the while searching for the other people who were really like me. Not just “kind of interested in self-improvement”. Not just “really driven”. The people who deep down know they are destined for something big, in service of others, and will do whatever it takes to be ready for it.
I said the answer was simple. I also said it was scary. The truth is, I found my people when I was ready to do two of the scariest things I’d ever done.
- Step outside of my comfort zone as a high achiever in things I knew about and understood to take on the serious inner work to become the best version of myself.
- Accept that before I could find and surround myself with my people, I’d have to be willing to let go of the ones I’d let stand in their place for so long. Fear impedes growth. Fear of losing what you have can prevent you from getting what you really want and deserve.
George Addair and many others have said:
“Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.”
They are right. Your people are on the other side of fear, too.
Originally published on LinkedIn.com