Do what is meaningful & integral
By: Justin Williams; Owner of Taino Studios
Have you ever walked away from a situation with the uneasy feeling that the interaction could have had a different outcome? Maybe it was telling that person you care deeply about the truth in how you feel. Or maybe expresses your sincere disapproval of a particular political viewpoint a group of people you are a part of. Telling the truth is a risk, however it will unveil anything rotten and eventually allow the good to shine through.
The hidden complexity of my subconscious mind emerged as I was uncertain about the status of my work last week. I was sure my mind was taking me where I wanted to go. I was waking up energized, fueled to execute my mission of providing the best service possible to the middle schoolers I was teaching. My becoming was being revitalized after serving as a clinician for a year and experiencing severe burn out. Yet, the corresponding understanding of my experience made me blind to a broader and deeper intuitiveness.
One day, during a routine meeting at the school a previously taught at, the wall crumbled, and the structure that held the school up began to dissipate. “ What do you wish we had more of?” was the question for the team. Everyone gave very politically correct and answers that had an obvious undertone of submission to it. Answers such as “ I wish we had more time “ or “I wish we had more pizza for the staff “ But, that day- I decided to break the mold and take a risk.
I told the truth and needed to address reality for what it was. I could no longer ignore the fact that the classrooms were unmanageable across most of the grades due to a lack of teachers. We had gone through at least three substitute teachers every two weeks per grade in two fundamental classes. Pair that chaos with unjust behavioral consequences for both male and female genders…and you get what I said.
The thought of putting out one more untruth into the universe was unfathomable due to the fact that my adult peers seemed to be living in a delusion that the problem would just go away without addressing it at a meeting. “ I wish we had more teachers, “ I said. “ I wish we had more students,'' the principal sharply contorted after me.” The energy in the room shifted.
Two days later the principal left and did not return. Seven days later all of the men in the building who were heterosexual and male were either layed off or moved to another building. It was then where the truth served as protection from evidence that I had been teaching in a hostile environment the entire time and that I was too distracted by my love of teaching to really see.
It seemed as though all of the order just collapsed in a moment. One day I was the well valued male role model, the next the ground began to shift and I was treated as though I was something that was not supposed to be. I was a gullible fool in a conspired delusion, a front for the truth of the cruel matter. The reality of the world had harshly revealed itself and shattered the fundamental incompetence of my senses and everything I had believed to be collectivity turned to dust. I had to ask myself, “ what is left to see if I don't know what I am lookin at?
What is left to know while living in the middle of a gender war? What I perceived was veiled chaos until the truth paved the way for the disorder to emerge like a snake in the grass. Without it, metaphorically speaking- I would have been bitten. Psychologically molded into what I was “ supposed to be” and coerced into what was expected no matter the practicality of it.
Anyhow, everything turned out for the best. I learned my lesson about company culture red flags, and how to identify them during my next hiring process and have been spending a lot of time on my business while preparing for my masters! But, without taking the risk and allowing the universal truth to be free-none of this would have happened. Completely worth it. I hope my story was compelling and informative enough for you to take that risk and share your true experience through thoughtful communication efforts and intentions!
Anyhow, lets get into it...
"The biggest risk is not taking any risk... In a world that is changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks. "
- Mark Zuckerberg
" Taking risks doesn't mean shirking responsibility, but embracing possibilities."
- Vick Hope
" Don't be afraid to have a reality check. Taking risks is OK, but you must be realistic. "
- Joy Mangano
" If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary. "
- Jim Rohn
" Those who dare take risks shall fulfill their passions. "
- Lailah Gifty Akita
" Wherever there is danger, there lurks opportunity; wherever there is opportunity, there lurks danger. The two are inseparable. "
- Earl Nightingale
"Freedom is always associated with risk taking, whether it leads to it or comes from it. "
- Nassim Nicholas Taleb
"If you dare nothing, then when the day is over, nothing is all you will have gained. "
- Neil Gaiman
"If you don’t risk anything, you risk even more."
- Erica Jong
"Take the risk. If you succeed you’ll be happy. If you fail you’ll be wiser. "
- Maxime Lagacé
"If every risk you take pays off, then you probably aren’t actually taking risks.'
-Eric Greitens (Navy SEAL)
" The most important thing to remember is this: To be ready at any moment to give up what you are for what you might become. "
-W. E. B. Du Bois
" In school, we rarely learn probability and statistics, leaving us victims of our mind’s own inability to process random events. "
-Neil deGrasse Tyson
“Do one thing every day that scares you.”
— Eleanor Roosevelt
"Everybody can be great, because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love."
- Martin Luther King Jr.
"Risk and opportunity are two sides of the same coin. "
-Yvan Byeajee
"If you’re walking down the right path and you’re willing to keep walking, eventually you’ll make progress."
– Barack Obama
" In a world filled with hate, we must still dare to hope. In a world filled with anger, we must still dare to comfort. In a world filled with despair, we must still dare to dream. And in a world filled with distrust, we must still dare to believe."
– Michael Jackson
"I have come to believe over and over again that what is most important to me must be spoken, made verbal and shared, even at the risk of having it bruised or misunderstood. "
– Audre Lorde
“Who can save a child from a burning house without taking the risk of being hurt by the flames?”
- Henri J. M. Nouwen
“Most people would rather live in the predictability of captivity than risk the uncertainty that comes in a fight for freedom.”
“If you find yourself living in a world where there is only cynicism, negativity, and distrust, you need to realize that it’s a world of your own making. There is a more beautiful world out there to be known, but you have to be able to see it. You have to want it. You must be willing to risk, to step outside of what you know, to live in a more extraordinary unknown.”
- Erwin Raphael McManus
“To take offense is to give offense.”
- A Course in Miracles
“I know now that I don’t want to love or be loved in half measures. I want it all, and to have it all, you have to risk it all.”
- Jenny Han
Good read no matter what your job is. It applies to everybody.