Who are the leaders in your life? Is it you?
It is so easy to look outside yourself and say, “They are the leaders.”. How about you? How are you a leader in unexpected ways?
Often, the leaders you admire are a reflection of yourself. They contain qualities and attributes you have now, potential for, or a dream of in your own life. The leaders you admire aren’t all that different from you. Sometimes it is easier to see yourself through the mirror of others. In seeing yourself by seeing others, you may begin to understand what a leader is to you.
One way to be a leader is in being yourself. This is being a leader in your very own unique way. In choosing to be yourself, you may have – or had – an impact bigger than you imagine.
Did you move away from home and create a new life that was more than you ever dreamed? Do you show up each day dressed in your favorite fashion? Did you come out and choose to no longer be quiet about who you love? Do you share your favorite passions in life? Did you just get through something tough and never gave up?
In being yourself, you may have affected, influenced, helped, or shed a light on something for others. In being yourself, you may have shown people a new possibility for their lives and the world – that someone like you exists too.
Being a leader has nothing to do with how many followers you have on Instagram or someone outside of you validating it, seeing it, rewarding, or acknowledging leadership within you. If you are waiting for someone to validate it before it can be real for you, what are you missing experiencing in the meantime?
An artist is an artist even without a gallery. The inventor is an inventor without patents. The singer is a singer even without a record label. The leader is a leader even if it’s not validated.
You are the only one that can validate and say what you are doing is real – in a way that matters in the long run. Opinions can be fickle. What do you believe is true for and about you?
Leadership is a quality of energy that all of us can access. It can be as simple as being yourself.
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” – Mary Oliver.