Below is the transcript of episode 12 of the One Last Thought podcast, titled "Why Be 'A' When You Can Be 'THE'?" and I wanted to share it as a blog post, as there is so much value to be gained by these powerful thoughts shared by Heather Younger and Ryan Avery. Enjoy.
You can be the one that holds the key that opens the door to any of those things that are in your mind. And once you decide to use that key in all aspects of your life, you're really going to be able to flourish.
Thinking about how I was treated like a child from interracial interfaith marriage and really being excluded and being an outsider and not being allowed to go to different public events and people never wanting to have me be seen in my own family.
One of my biggest missions in life is to get people to understand that they can be more than A, they can be THE at what they do.
I remember a lot of times, just not feeling like I was good enough and always trying to persist and pursue and never give up and have the drive. But I think it was actually more for the wrong reasons. I can think of many times that I felt like maybe I was being held back or someone was getting in my way or I was just feeling that way and Sometimes it was real and sometimes it was in my mind.
Why be A when you can be THE at what you do?
I was trying to prove myself; I was trying to prove my worth. My grandmother, she was the main person kind of keeping me out of all the events of my childhood. When she passed away, I debated should I go to her funeral even though I've never at the age of 36 been to a family event like that, or should I just stay behind? Because would it just be too much? And would it be impinging upon the family circle and what the perceptions of the people were outside of that family?
And the reason why is when we're 'A' we settle, but when we're 'THE', we have standards and everybody benefits from us reaching to the top
And then I thought to myself, wait a second, I deserve to be there just as much as everyone else. No one's telling me I can't be there. Why am I telling myself I shouldn't go I don't deserve to go? I realized as an older adult that I'm the only one who places limits on myself.
Why be A teacher when you can be THE teacher? Why be A doctor when you can be THE doctor? Why be A dad when you can be THE dad?
And when I realized what I'm realizing even now at I age is if I could look back from when I was a kid and come forward, I would absolutely tell myself that there really are very few limitations in life we can't overcome. And once I changed my mind to realize that those limitations of not having access and not given the green light to do things in life, it was all in my head.
When you do you have more, you can give more, you can be more.
I wanted to achieve certain things and I couldn't get there because I thought something was in my way.
To be honest, there are very few limitations at all.
I would love to wake up in a world where kids say I want to be THE firefighter. I want to be THE teacher, THE doctor, THE actor, THE singer.
Don't be your own barriers. There are very few barriers that actually exist in life.
My greatest thought that I can leave with you is don't be A, be THE.
