Your vision is for you, NOT your family...

Your vision is for you, NOT your family… How many times have you heard someone say something like, “I could have gotten so much more done if I had the support of my family…”? While support of family and friends to carry out your vision would be ideal, the truth of the matter is that, your vision is your own. I have been recently reading, “Abundance Now” by Lisa Nichols, where she discusses this very topic. The title of the section is, “Love your vision, but don’t expect others to applaud it.” Support is a luxury. Many great thinkers and innovators have brought their visions to fruition with little to no support from those around them. She tells a story about visiting South Africa to speak to a large group about re-framing their suffering after apartheid and then coming home to be greeted by her cousin with, “we know you’ve been doing something important in South Africa, but all we want to know is, where is the peach cobbler?” She said it was then that she realized her family was not supposed to see her the way the world does. They were her soft place the fall. Her family was one of the only places where she could just “be” and the only requirement was peach cobbler with extra crust. I chuckled at how often, in the past, I felt robbed because everyone around me wasn’t lining up to hear the latest tales about my career, but instead wanted to know who I might be dating. I’m like, “who needs a date when you’re trying to change the world? That’s too small for me! I just finished a novel and you want to hear about some man I just met two months ago?” Lol The point is, we get to choose those business relationships and partnerships carefully. Those are the people who will support your vision because it is their vision too. My family is pretty supportive, I don’t have unnecessary expectations on them and I rarely discuss a big project, new book or speaking engagement, mostly because I only like to discuss those things in places where my audience is just as captivated as I am. And I'm not holding them hostage in a conversation they're only entertaining because they love me. We don’t choose family and they definitely didn’t sign up to be our business partners; and they shouldn’t have to. Let your family be your soft place to fall. The one place where you don’t have to put on a show or deliver greatness. Lack of family support is often used as a scapegoat for not going after our dreams or as a “reason” why we have a problem with them, when most of our familial problems go back much further than our latest business venture. If family is your biggest hope for a sale or an investment, your scope is too small. I want to attract people who are as passionate about what I’m doing as I am. I want to grow beyond the comfort zone of family and friends. We would all be much better served with friends for having a good time, our children for a place to be silly and vulnerable, our family of origin for comradery and our business partners for business. Love, Jameelah www.JameelahRaoof.com "RE-SET: Uncovering the truth by any means... Now Available!"