I’m not really one to get caught up in the hype but I’ll make an exception this time. Allow me to join the New Year’s resolution bandwagon and let me do a bit of reflection.
A few years back, I found myself in a job interview where halfway through, the interviewer stopped the interview. He wasn’t getting from me what he was hoping so he suggested that we to simply talk like two people getting to know each other. The conversation went well until he totally knocked the wind out my sails with this statement. He said:
“When I read your CV I get excited and intrigued by what I read but when I hear you talk, I find it almost impossible to believe that I’m talking to the same person.” Oh my word, I nearly died!
Truth be told, he was right. See what I did was put on this false humility in talking about my own abilities because I didn’t want to be seen as boasting. I was being ‘honest’ about my inabilities because I didn’t want him to have high expectations of me. I was very ‘reserved and professional’ in my approach because I wanted to project the right image. The fact is it was an approach rooted in fear and self-doubt. Most people are like this: they sell themselves short of who they really are and what they’re really capable of.
Why do we do that to ourselves though?
In her book A Return To Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles, Marianne Williamson puts it very well when she says:
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.’ We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
Let’s get into the year that lies ahead, boldly and confidently. Let’s tackle the challenges and opportunities with an audacity that says we’re more than conquerors.
Oh, as for that job interview, thankfully I didn’t take the job. I would undoubtedly have been bored out of my mind, since it didn’t live up to my expectations!