Greatness Lies Beyond Your Comfort Zone

Everything about the YALP fellowship application lay way beyond my comfort zone. I'll tell you this: I always had a frustrating phobia for long application processes. I think it was important though that applying for the fellowship was not a simple matter of uploading a cover letter and a CV.

Why? Because in the process of building a strong application, I figured out exactly what it was that drove me. It had never stood out to me as clearly as it did when I finally put my thoughts together and hit the send button. For months since I had resigned from one of my previous job roles, I had struggled to find what I truly wanted to accomplish. Sure, I wanted to be great. Sure, I wanted to do something meaningful. Sure, I wanted to live a comfortable life in that process, with no financial burdens.

Easier said than done.

Definitely easier said than done. I had come across a lot of motivational content in my period of searching and waiting; and one thing resonated loud and clear: if I wanted to find my true calling, I had to figure out what I wanted to do to help others…what I wanted to do to make the world a better place. I had to let go of chasing after money (or what I wanted to receive) and start looking ahead and mapping out what I wanted to give to the world.

Ugh. Easier said than done.

If I had to be completely honest, I wanted badly to have the freedom to do whatever I wanted to without being concerned about money. Most of those things were undoubtedly noble but, in a sense, I had the uneasy feeling that it really did all boil down to the money.

So, there I was, filling in the YALP application, typing away. I wasn't sure the primary message I was trying to convey but by the time I was done with the process, it was clearer than day. That was it! By being forced to answer critical questions, I had to really think through why I did anything I did and figure out the primary goal that spurred me on. I realised in those moments that I wanted to help other young people like myself to break out of the apparent limitations of being "ordinary".

And this goal was as much for me as it was for anyone else.

You see, I always used to hold the strong belief that everything about my life and my story was completely ordinary. I grew up in a modest family. We were far from being considered wealthy, but we never truly lived in poverty or destitution either. We just got by. The hard times came - and boy, did they hit really hard - but then they would fade away and be replaced by good times. Then the cycle would continue. Everything was pretty much ho-hum.

I never had a major epiphany which led me to figure out my life's true calling, or a tragedy that hit so hard that I had to rise up dramatically and change the course of my life. God had kept us afloat and life was simple. Tough sometimes, but simple. Most of the time, that was my biggest problem.

Listening to motivational speeches and stories of great people, it almost seemed guaranteed that for ordinary people like me, some sort of horrible tragedy was a prerequisite for any form of breakthrough. After all, I wasn't necessarily born with mind-blowing gifts or talents. I wasn't athletic. I wasn't a "natural" leader. I wasn't some crazy genius or remarkable scientist. I was just me.

As I wrote out the application, it dawned on me that those thoughts had never served me. As a matter of fact, they had kept me doing absolutely nothing. Let the geniuses figure out how to save the oceans and deal with climate change, I would sub-consciously think. Well, not anymore! In that moment, I realised that I could also become extraordinary…and what a story it would be for people like me if I succeeded! Youth all across the continent would be inspired by the "ordinariness" of my story to realise that they too can make a difference!

Haha! That was it! I found my purpose!

So, here's a note for all of you who are struggling to fill out complex application forms, asking you endless questions that feel like mini dissertations on their own:

?Keep writing...one word at a time...one sentence at a time...one paragraph at a time. You may just find yourself in the process.

Illustrations by Storyset (www.storyset.com).