When I was a little girl, maybe five or six, I proudly announced to my daycare teacher that moving forward from that day on, my name was Magical. I’m not lying here... I had my teacher and friends in my class, call me Magical because I was magical. I mean my last name was Powers and it was only natural that I would call myself Magical Powers.
Looking back at this now, I have a smile on my face because... my goodness, I was proud to put that out there in the universe. I knew this was me. What’s funny is that at that young age, was I, in fact, magical? Hmmm... I don’t believe I had any special powers, but I did know I was unique and I had a strong sense of who I was then which is hilarious because what six-year-old knows who they are? Or, do they?
Children are curious. They ask questions. They want to know about the world. They want to soak up as much as they can. When they grow up and become preteens and teenagers, it actually becomes a little bit easier to lose a little bit of that curiosity because they start understanding the world a little bit more and then... they discover judgement. Judgement is limiting and it prevents us from being our best selves. By the time we become adults, our curiosity has dwindled and judgement has entered full force whether it’s coming from others or ourselves.
So, as I was growing up in my late teens, I still remained very curious. I would even dare to say I was probably a little weird. One day while I was 17 years old, I was driving in the car with one of my best friends. At that time, I had been getting over my first break-up. Devastation, but all of a sudden, there it was, joy! This new found joy involved an alpaca farm. I never once saw this while I was going to my friend’s place, but there it was to entice me in. I made my friend pull over, we got out of the car, and checked out these beautiful creatures. About an hour later, I had already knocked on the door, talked to the owners, and became the new trainer of these alpacas.
Again, looking back at this, I realized I was quite adventurous and I wasn’t afraid to put myself out there. My parents always told me to not talk to strangers, but I think that slightly backfired when my mom, brother and I slid into a ditch one icy Wednesday night and we were stranded in the middle of nowhere. We had to rely on strangers to help us. I can tell you right now as my mom is reading this, she’s going say how scared she was and hoping this would not backfire. Ha! Mom, but you taught me a great lesson. I learned good people do exist and sometimes people genuinely want to lend a helping hand. Back to the alpacas, though, it was that curiosity I had to learn, love, embrace, and talk to strangers that taught me to follow my heart and intuition.
Fast forward, I’m now 24 years old and I get my first “real girl” job. My boss at that time told me, “Melissa, you say the word awesome a lot, maybe you should use other words instead.” It’s interesting because this statement has stuck around for a long time. When I transitioned to my current place of employment, I definitely hesitated in showing the real me which was the me that said “awesome”. I thought I had to act a certain way and had to be super professional all the time. Don’t get me wrong, if you work in a professional place, it’s only natural to act professionally, but I loved that me that said “awesome” and who didn't hesitate to show who I really was.
It wasn’t until I became a leader, the authentic me started coming out. You see, it’s exhausting to put on this mask where you hide yourself. When I became a leader, I really got to embrace my team and myself by coaching, supporting them through their development, and growing who I was as a person. I’m pretty sure they liked that quirky me, because I was human. Being human, showing the softer side, showing the unique side, but showing emotional intelligence, care, empathy, compassion, and vulnerability while staying professional also helps other people grow. It was that role where finally I could say “awesome” again and get back to being my authentic self.
I later moved into change management and had another pivotal moment. My former boss told me about how in our lives we have these pivotal movements. They are constantly shaping us. Pivotal moments are these aha moments that provide us clarity and potentially shapes a new perspective. This pivotal moment was learning the word “Multipotentialite”.
As I discussed my passion around people, leadership, and creativity with my mentor, she shared the Multipotentialite Ted Talk. According to Emilie Wapnick:
A multipotentialite is someone with many interests and creative pursuits.
Clarity! I felt so validated. For as long as I can remember, I have been interested in probably almost everything. I would even feel a little ashamed because it took me two years to determine my major, one year to get a professional job after graduating, and several different positions to realize I’m a generalist. I 100% thought I was flawed because I wasn’t a specialist. One thing I did know, though, I wholeheartedly believed whatever I would try, I would still be successful because I acted with passion, creativity and curiosity.
Bringing this all together, it takes a second sometimes to figure out who we are. As we get older, we learn from the experiences we have, but what if I told you all experiences are opportunities for growth? They are opportunities to get to know ourselves much better and determine who we want to be. We may develop limiting beliefs, assumptions, interpretations, and even fears from the things that have happened, but we get to set the trajectory and move our path forward.
Each one of us is a perfect, unique energy force. We are each here for a special purpose.
Remember these beautiful words. We are all here for a reason and we get to live life at its fullest by being our best authentic selves. Don’t let judgement or fear get in the way because honeybees, we all are special and that specialness is a gift to the world.
So, honeybees, as I close this blog this week, I challenge you to embrace your inner honeybee and stay curious. After all, we are all a little magical :)