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The Greatness Within You

Many of us have so many aspirations and goals that we would like to accomplish. The only thing is that we find ourselves constantly talking about what we want to do, but we never take action. It’s as if you talk about the greatness that you hope to accomplish, but a year later you are still in the same job. Either nothing has changed or worse, you are further from your goals. You know that deep down inside you were made for something special. There is a reason why you like the things that you do. Defining your goals, writing them and taking action is key. Before doing this, you must believe that you have greatness within you.

Ample research talks about how everyone is unique in their own way. Our fingerprints show proof. You might find someone who has the same number of brothers as you, and likes the same food, but do they also really enjoy going fishing like you?

My younger brother and I have many similar things that we enjoy. Besides working out, playing sports, and having cookouts, he still has other interests that do not interest me. My brother is an introvert and I am more of an extravert. I have no issues talking in front of a big crowd, while he would prefer to maintain a smaller crowd.

The more we study ourselves, the more we see how unique we really are. You might be a morning person who enjoys taking walks in the morning with your dogs. Or, you may not be a morning person, but more of a night owl and prefer to go on midnight jogs. At any rate, it is clear that each person is UNIQUE.

While being unique is something so true, many of us have a difficult time accepting this reality. We try to blend in with the crowd. We want to do what everyone is doing.

Whether it is getting the new iPhone, or it is wearing the type of clothing that is in style, we try to do what everyone else is doing.

The key here is to realize is that your uniqueness is what defines your greatness. In this great big wonderful world, there is only one you. Read that again—ONLY ONE YOU.

I remember growing up, especially in middle school, how the last thing I wanted to do was to be unique. If people ever spotted that we were different, we would hide the things about us that people said were different. How many of you can relate to this?

Little by little growing up, we were constantly reinforced how being different was not a good thing. How there were certain things we had to do to make sure that we fit in. Even when we felt like sharing the unique things that we wanted to do, for the most part, we would hold back out of fear. Fear of being rejected, bullied or alienated.

It’s as though there was a voice inside us that wanted to speak to the world, but it never had the chance of coming out. The only person that this voice would speak to was us.

We either found ourselves being a leader that people wanted to follow, or we became the individual that we wanted to follow as a role model. A majority of us just became followers. I would even go on to bet that the leaders had a more difficult time being themselves due to the external pressures of being a leader.

If you were like me, then you were stuck in the middle. You did not want to be a follower, but you found it really difficult to do your own thing—to be you! I remember in high school trying to convince my friends to do something, but I would get these interesting looks. Not to say that my high school friends were not great people to be around, because they honestly were. I still talk to some of them to this day.

But to be honest, I was just the individual who seemed way out there in the sense of always wanting to do something different. One of the things that I was voted for in high school was most outgoing. I am glad to know that I also was voted for the best personality.

I clearly remember coming up with so many different theories and ideas. Many times, my friends would look at me and think, “there he goes again with his thinking”. What I really liked about my friends was that no matter how crazy my ideas sounded, they still accepted me no matter what crazy idea I would throw out. I will never forget when I decided to wear a pink shirt that said, “Tough Guys Wear Pink”. That’s how my thinking would go. Even to this day I laugh at all the ideas I had. Eventually as we grow older, that little voice inside of us gets smaller and smaller. By the time we are close to finishing our teenage years, we are so conditioned to be like everyone else.

What happened to that inner voice? Is it still there? We just have to be still and listen in the silence in order to hear it. We need to bring to light that inner voice. That inner voice reminds us who we really are! It shows us what we really like, what we are really about, and what we would like to do in this world. Sometimes those moments of silence might just reveal to us what we were created to be.

Even though I was able to get some of my ideas out in high school, a vast majority of my ideas and what I wanted to do never got out. Little by little, the voice inside me shrunk, but I am glad to say it did not die!

I clearly remember in college when I had the idea to create shirts to sell them. The idea that I had was that you would take a black shirt and instead of writing the letters C.I.A, the shirt would say C.S.A. It was an idea that I felt would catch people’s attention. I will never forget the feeling I felt inside when years later I saw a man I didn’t even know wearing one of my shirts.

Since I knew my inner voice stayed there, I continued thinking and having conversations with myself. I believe many of you to this day also still have those conversations when it’s quiet and you are alone. This voice inside you right now, that has been silenced, but not shut knows the true you—your unique, authentic self.

Imagine going through your life always wondering what you could have done if you would have let that voice actually talk? If you would have actually made the decision to try something new. Would you currently be where you are right now?

I am here to tell you that even though that voice inside of me was silenced and was conditioned not to speak, I am very grateful I never completely shut out the voice inside of me.

It was that voice inside of me that led me to accomplish everything I have been able to accomplish, and do all the things that I’ve wanted to do even though I was raised in one of the most economically disadvantaged places in the U.S.

No one in my family had ever gone to college and we lived in a low-income community.

This made the idea of going to college not only less of a priority, but truly a radical dream.

Then, in my freshman year of high school, the voice inside me spoke out for me to attend a university outside of the state of Texas. Focusing on this thought, little by little, it became more and more prevalent in my day-to-day thinking. I would imagine what it would be like to go to a college outside the state of Texas. Even stopping by the high school gear up room and reading all the college pamphlets became a constant thing.

Every time I vocalized what I wanted to do, there was always someone who thought it was crazy! My family thought it was outrageous. It honestly felt that those closest to me would brush off the fact that I wanted to go to a school out of state, and better yet, that I was determined to go.

By listening to the guidance of this inner voice, hard work, persistence, determination, and a desire to succeed, I was able to excel in my academics and be in the top ten percent of my graduating class. (What a nail biter —I graduated number 12 out of 120 students.)

At the end of my senior year, I was accepted to Michigan State University and I received an academic scholarship that would only pay for my first year of college. The remaining years, I had to work multiple jobs in order to pave the way through college for myself. There were times I would have to take the greyhound bus to go home to visit my family. One time it took over 2 days of riding on the bus. There was also a time that I had to spend the night at the airport. At one point I was even working 3 jobs while still taking classes. I am thankful the voice inside me kept speaking out. And more importantly, I am pleased that I made the choice to listen, do something different despite the critics and that I took action! Had I not listened to the voice I probably would have come home after my first year of college, since there was no way I would be able to afford to go to such a big university. Also, this was the same time my parents had decided to get a divorce. As much as I wanted to come home and help my family with everything going on, there was a small voice inside of me that told me to continue going to Michigan State. I mean seriously, it is one thing to get into college, but not a lot of people talk about the struggle one goes through in order to survive and make it through college. From sleeping in the airport one night, to riding the bus for 2 days to make it home, to working 3 jobs at the same time, I am so glad I kept listening to the inner voice.

I will say that the journey I have taken was not an easy one. During this time there were several moments where I just wanted to quit school and go back home. I will say, the pain I was feeling was overlooked by the voice I heard inside. I knew that deep down inside I was meant to graduate from a big University. No matter the current pain I felt, nothing could take away my eyes on the prize. During my time at Michigan State there were so many friendships I picked up on the way, and several life lessons I learned....