About 15 years ago, when I was a university student in Mexico City, I was going to the dentist one day, and I got a text on my phone. It said I had won something and should respond to the text to claim my prize. I was super naïve, and I responded to the text. While sitting at the dentist’s office, I got a call from this guy saying congratulations. I was a winner in some promotions I didn’t even participate in (the first clue, this was a scam).
Odette Campbell is the Managing Director of the Grenada Broadcasting Network; she started her career in media three years after graduating from the Anglican High School and has been in that sector for over 30 years. Her career began with a brief three-month stint at The Grenada Informer as a reporter. She then quit after getting word that she might be fired and moved on to take up another role as a trainee at Radio Grenada and her career took off from there. Today she shares her story with us on Dropping Bars.
Five years ago, Charlyn Asher tried to get a promotion at the company she was working at. She was told point blank that she would never get that promotion. After realizing she was killing herself for a company that doesn’t hold her in high esteem, she knew she had to get out of there. She quit her job and decided to become an entrepreneur. She purchased the company Colt Paper from the Colt family, and today, five years later, she is running two successful enterprises, Colt Paper and Antoine Fulfillment.
I woke up this morning inspired to write this post. I spent much of my life holding back myself, limiting my potential because I was worried. I was concerned about how people would respond, what people would say, and afraid that I would be called out as fake. I was worried that the people I grew up with, who knew one side of me and did not necessarily know the “me” I was becoming, would call me out for being fake. As a result, I held back.
About three weeks ago, I was at JFK International Airport awaiting a flight to Toronto. Since I had some time to spare, I decided to look around. I went into a store, and I saw a lovely bracelet. If I were a cartoon at that particular moment, everyone in the store would have been blinded by the brightness of the lightbulb that went off above my head. I thought to myself; my wife would love this! Satisfied by my excellent choice, my movement appeared to mimic that of Will Smith in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air as I gleefully bounced with the bracelet to the store’s sales representative to make the purchase. She took the bracelet, looked at it, skimmed through a stack of papers, then said to me, “I don’t know the price of this.” At that point, I knew exactly how the Wile E Coyote feels when one of his anvil traps for the Road Runner backfires and gets him instead because I was crushed.
I know I am not the only one who goes to YouTube or another video platform and looks up motivational videos. Whether looking at Les Brown’s “you gotta be hungry” or something from Tony Robbins, even Eric Thomas- The Hip Hop Preacher. I get pumped when I listen to these motivational speakers. At the moment, I feel like I can achieve anything. But then, I go to sleep and wake and that Motivation wears off, and I get nothing done.
When I was younger, I remembered hearing news of people dying, whether from the adults around me or on television, if I happened to be at someone’s house when the death news was on because I didn’t have a television at my home. What stood out to me back then was that it was always someone I didn’t know, or If I knew them, they were not close to me. Hence, these deaths never bothered me, but lately, there has been a shift.
Your experiences are shaped by your thinking. Even obstacles have a value when you can see it. You can develop convictions that will help you to feel happier and achieve more, regardless of the situation.
Consider these empowering beliefs that you can start using today to transform your life through the power of positive thinking.
