*This post is an entry in the 2nd Stratejoy Essay Contest. Throughout the next month, we will be featuring each finalist writing their answer to the question: What would your TED Talk Be? On September 13th, we will open the voting to YOU, our community, to select the winner of the $500 prize.*
*Believing In The Value Of Everyday Greatness*
If you are on the verge of cutting off all your hair, or giving up on your creative passion, or seriously considering finding the nearest convent to take you in because you feel like you will never measure up, keep on going!
When my father named me Alexandria, he did so with the full intention that I would somehow take over the world like Alexander the Great, my namesake. So far, I have only managed to take over a college campus with a few protests, academic lectures, and conference presentations. Still, he is proud of me and feels that I’ve succeeded, although I wonder if I have.
You see, my parents raised this loud, bold, faith strong, academic artist. And I have grown up to be exactly what my kind tends to be: loud, bold, faithful, strong, and artsy. Professional titles are merely smoke and mirrors to mask, and perhaps finance, what my people are really here for. As educators, entrepreneurs, and creative beings, we bring the magic of innovation and a heart of faith into each and everything we do; even if it is in the way we serve coffee, or some other side hustles we do to maintain. We, the innovative, creative, passionate warrior people are underemployed and struggling. It’s with this realization that I question just how flawed my father must be to think of me as anything other than his little idealistic flower child. It certainly doesn’t amount to greatness. Right?
When I think of greatness, when most of us make a reference, it is lauded by some record breaking feat while watching an Olympic event that only 4 people in all the world have ever accomplished. The rest of us mere mortals chat amongst ourselves about how awesome, how amazing, how great these select few are while they dazzle in the applause of the public eye. And as a result, from a very young age on, we have developed this competitive language to define the brilliant, the distinguished, the great ones in a way that is outside of ourselves.
I am convinced now, in all of my loud-bold-faith strong-artsy wonder, that we as a culture loose something of substance with such limited dialogue. At first, I felt like it was just me struggling with regular meaning-of-life/ quarter life crisis stuff, feeling sorry for myself as I thought I would never fulfill the dreams of my father. I was sort of flailing around, trying not to drown in a sea of unimpressive and unaccomplished feelings. I wanted go on a yoga retreat out in the middle of woods where your phone doesn’t get reception without running water to get in touch with my inner “ohmmm.”
But I showed up to work instead. As a part-time instructor, I spend a lot of time in the presence of students talking. However, as I reflected on my own woes, I did something different. I got real quiet and I began to listen to young people. If you just listen to their heart beat, you will find out more about the world than you ever thought. So, I listened to the young ones as they talked about their ideas and potential future. I asked how they might want to impact the world.
The guys answer without hesitation. They want to be Kobe Bryant “because he’s the G.O.A.T.” they say. That means he is the greatest of all time. I don’t mention Michael Jordan for fear I will age myself, and at this point, they still think I’m cool. “Anything other than sports?” I ask. “You could be great at other things,” I insist. “Like what?” they respond with no other idea how to be courageously talented and recognized in this society. The conversation with young girls is even more telling. They don’t speak of Serena or Gabby. The little women are silent when it comes to envisioning personal greatness. My heart breaks for the void they don’t even know yet needs to be filled with their own sense of awe and wonder. It is in this moment I make a commitment to go out to the four corners of the earth and tell them about themselves, about me, about others who are beautiful and amazing.
Except me and my loud-bold-faith strong-artsy heart are trapped behind the desk of my second job. I really want to write and give free interactive lectures where innovation and education can come together and make a difference in young women. But none of that can happen until the tedious project on my desk is done. Feeling stifled and frustrated, I call one of my young people- my youngest sister. I say, “Sister, I know I’m the oldest, but I need to be rescued today; I need a pep talk. I have been starring at my computer screen for hours but nothing is getting done. Just tell me you love me and that I can do anything if I just try.”
Thank God this is what she says instead:
“Close your eyes and take several deep breaths. Count to sixteen since I will be sixteen soon.” She breathes with me. “Now, reach up to the sky and stretch your back because that will relieve some of the tension from sitting all day.” I do. “Okay, say the first thing that comes to mind that you know you can do.” “I can breathe,” I reply.
With that realization, I was immediately restored, feeling a thousand times better. Shortly after, I finished my assignment. As I left work, I wondered where had my little teenage sister come from with such wisdom and understanding. She made an impact on my life in such a powerful way by making herself available to me. “She’s just so great,” I thought. And there it was.
Right then and there, I finally understood what my father knew and what I want to pass on to you. The key is not to impact the world; it is to impact your world. That’s an everyday choice that we can all make. It is in the deliberate love and compassion shown daily in our lives and those around us as we elevate who we already are and who we choose to be. Are you great? Of course you are. Be a great friend, neighbor, teacher, or parent. Now, go boldly and take over your world with all kinds of inspired greatness. I do, just like my sister taught me.
Insert Your Name: __________ the Great!
Here’s mine: Alexandria the Great!
ABOUT ALEXANDRIA
Alexandria is a poet and writer who lives by day as a social media manager for non-profit organizations. She is also a creative educator in the arts and leadership development. By night, she is a book toting academic who loves to randomly sing in public. She loves to travel and plans to do more of it! She has an B.A. and M.A. in Pan African Studies and writes about culture, mental/physical health, faith, and love. She plans to go back to school (again) to put the Doctor in front of her already beautiful name, but has to work out some post-quarter-life-crisis stuff first. Alexandria has two amazing sisters that are her life and a really great partner who she hopes will stick around awhile.
*This post is an entry in the 2nd Stratejoy Essay Contest. Throughout the next month, we will be featuring each finalist writing their answer to the question: What would your TED Talk Be? On September 13th, we will open the voting to YOU, our community, to select the winner of the $500 prize.*
