This week I had the honour to do a leadership workshop with the student leadership committee of a female residence at Stellenbosch University. It was an amazing experience. The words ‘grateful’, ‘humbling’ and ‘hopeful’ come to mind.
I feel grateful for:
- having the opportunity to work with such a dynamic group of women.
- to be in the privileged position to be able to work in the personal and professional growth field
- other women all around the world that are playing big and in doing that give me the courage to live my truth. (Tara Mohr is one of these women and I can recommend her book “Playing Big” if you are interested in doing exactly that.)
I am humbled by:
- the students’ willingness to do inner work and ask the tough questions.
- their courage to be vulnerable in front of the group.
- their energy – I mean they went to a pool party after our evening session ended (just after 9pm) and was ‘op dit’ (Afirkaans saying something in line with ‘you are on the ball’) early the next day for our morning session 😉
This gives me hope for the nation because:
- the new generation of young leaders are not afraid to choose risk instead of safety or diversity instead of sameness.
- they realise that change starts within. Change does not need to become a grave for the old but rather a doorway into a meaningful and bigger life.
- during and after the session I had goose bumps all over my body. Over the years I’ve learned that my body doesn’t lie and it usually knows something before my conscious mind does. After all the definition of hope is based on ‘a feeling that events will turn out for the best’.
Nelson Mandela understood this. He said:
‘One thing I learned when I was negotiating was that, until I changed myself I could not change others’.
grethacronje 