The Garden: Who’re you when you wake up in the morning?

These were the words of one of my dear friends, Celestine Jeftha.  She had invited me out to the sports stadium for a football game organized by the Ghanaian community living in South Africa. As we were enjoying the match amongst the final two teams in the basking sun of Pretoria, a young man nicely adorned in his traditional wear passed by.  Believe it or not, he was good eye candy it was hard to not notice and so everyone, well at least from where I was sitting wanted to know who he was.

He had his Kente cloth flowing on his well-defined masculine body and his shapely chest and shoulders showing off to the Pretoria sun. “Apparently he is of royalty” said one of the girls, “Forget that, who is he when he wakes up in the morning is what I want to know” said Celestine as she continued to look on with admiration.

We all burst out with laughter and me being a typical analyst of almost every detail wanted to know exactly what she meant by that statement. “I want to know who he is outside of his blood line as in what does he do for a living, what keeps him going and most importantly I want to know his purpose in life and that to me is important information,” she said. Now that conversation inspired this week’s article on The Garden, “who are you when you wake up in the morning?”

Are you living a life of meaning and substance? What are you making an impact on?  Who are you when you wake up in the morning and how does your life contribute to the events of the day to the rest of the world?

I wonder just how many of us make a conscious decision to live in purpose and to be impactful.  Most of life passes us by in a fairly uneventful way. We are woken up by our alarms, digital or living, and then we proceed to shake the haze that is morning. And that by the way is just the start of the day as the rest is routine in the same monotonous pattern we subscribe to on a daily basis. Most of us call this life.

We go about time interacting with many different people, some of whom are predictable and others unanticipated. We go through many of our motions on autopilot but every so often, something happens that shakes our foundations just a little. Something enough to warrant our sense of self to want more out of life and to want to give more of ourselves in life and to others.  Now that is the call for life of impact.  It does not matter the age or sex we all can be a people of impact and yes even women. We talk of women leadership roles today as a new trend however in reality women have been practicing leadership doing amazing things and making global contributions for centuries.  They have been enabling positive change; inspiring action; addressing difficult issues; moving communities forward.

Whether you are a woman or a man, you can be impactful.  Our world needs your kind of person to make a difference and contribute towards human development.  You need not be a rare species, believe you me each of us has a story to tell and has something to give or offer.

But Lerato how do I impact the world? How do I embody the characteristics of a woman or man of impact/ substance? Below are a few characteristics and not limited to- to seek to embody as a lifestyle in order to make you impactful in your life and the lives of others.

• An optimistic attitude – there’s a connection between optimism and confidence. It’s about outcome and sense of self.
• Persistence- a quiet resilience that keeps us moving forward
• A strong and powerful voice-  voice is epitome of leadership
• Living with passion and purpose- know what drives you; what moves you; and let the fire burn brightly inside you.
• A strong sense of self & confidence- each of us can contribute to our community and to the world in amazing ways.  Sometimes we just have to get out of our way and allow ourselves to shine.
• Embody and embrace change
• Authenticity- arguably the most valuable but hardest too.  Not about who others expect you to be rather the willingness to author your own story. To be the person you want to be.
• Seeking and receiving support

Please note that impact starts behind closed doors, it begins with you; in our minds and in our immediate vicinity for instance our homes.  People who conquer at home have a better chance at running and impacting outside and those who don’t are not living the truth and that alone dilutes their level of impact.  In the end, it’s all about energy and redistribution of that energy.