Motivational Quotes - Gotta Love ‘Em
It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us.
Marianne Williamson
Dear reader,
Please indulge in the quote above.
How does it make you feel?
It comes from a book published in 1992 called A Return to Love by Marianne Williamson. This passage was read out to us at a moving goodbye zoom call from a Positive Psychology minor I took in my second year of university. I don’t have words for how monumental those 5 months were — from being a last minute alternative to my semester abroad to transitioning into a pandemic-instigated virtual education until being one of my proudest academic achievements.
Like I said — no words (at least none that could encapsulate it in two sentences.)
So during this monumental farewell celebration, the passage above was read out and would serve as a reminder for us of the strength each of us possessed. It was the perfect memento for this milestone.
If you’ve never heard of this quote, I highly recommend googling it to read the entire passage. It’s nothing short of motivational. But if you have, you probably think it’s something Mandela said, as it’s commonly misattributed to one of his speeches.
Each one of us has insecurities, small or big, does not matter. I’m glad that I am living in a time where there are platforms for people to be vulnerable and face their fears in a supportive environment like Wavemakers.
Last week’s theme was, you guessed it - insecurities.
And insecurities has lots of flavours and texture, cooked up by various ingredients like culture, family upbringing, schooling system, and also personality and genetic make-up. Or in psychological terms, nurture or nature.
But regardless of where it originates, it’s something that we all have in common, no matter how much we’ve achieved or far “ahead” we are in life compared to others. A fellow Wavemaker pointed out that it was relieving to hear others speak out their insecurities — and I agree. There’s a certain comfort in being on the same boat let’s say even though we all have our own tasks to fulfil. Whether you’re captaining the ship or scrubbing the floors, you can be sure that you both have thoughts of your personal shortcomings.
Now back to Williamson’s rhetoric.
Yes, sure, my “light” does frighten me but it’s also too simple to make things black and white as she did by contrasting the light and darkness inside ourselves. For example, I do feel scared to take action on my creative side, an aspect I feel I have strength in. But I also hear discouraging thoughts about my weaknesses.
When I thought about writing this article I straight away wanted to share with you this quote and create a motivational and awe-inspiring piece to read. But I did not commit to this 6-week journey to maintain a hopeless mindset that uncritically accepts beautifully crafted words like Williamson’s. I want to share with you my genuine reflections, and be transparent that it isn’t straight forward. Last week, I wrote about how we all have different starting points of growth and it scares me to think that I might contradict myself today in this article you’re reading or even in the coming weeks. I’m fearful to be viewed as an inconsistent person, an ungrounded person.
But as I procrastinated and time hit 21:04 on my Sunday evening, I tried to put my money where my mouth is and open my laptop to just write. Which reminds me of an interesting question our coach Vaida Pakulyte posed to us during one of our coaching evenings: what gets you out of your comfort zone? And one of my answers was to simply start doing whatever it is I needed to do and let momentum do its job.
It worked — I sat down and began typing Williamson’s quote and noticed how hopeless it made me feel. The quote felt too much like a prescription — which if not taken wouldn’t heal my illness.
And I looked a little bit more into her background to understand the context a little better and I realized how much I could not relate to it. But it was okay — I didn’t feel like I lost this remedy, this solution. I am quite joyful to realize that there is a plethora of ways to face my insecurities and that my entire existence doesn’t depend on a single path.
Often times we fall into such binary thinking and wish for a panacea, a cure-all. But that unfortunately doesn’t exist. I think, in terms of mentoring yourself to become the person you aspire to be, there is no 1 simple answer — or quote — to get you there. We need to craft our own journey with the tools we have on hand, and in my case I’m grateful to have my Wavemakers community as one of my tools. I’m grateful that even though it took me one year and a couple dropouts from the program, Wavemakers founder, Katja Kolmetz, still reached out to me with a welcoming attitude about possibly joining the program again.
So with all due respect to the author, I would like to leave you with a rectification.
̶I̶t̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶l̶i̶g̶h̶t̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶d̶a̶r̶k̶n̶e̶s̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶m̶o̶s̶t̶ ̶f̶r̶i̶g̶h̶t̶e̶n̶s̶ ̶u̶s̶.̶ It is whatever it is that frightens us, neither light nor dark, it just is.
