The things we make, make us.

My friend Megan has been in therapy for the good part of the last few years. Now she’s feeling so much more like herself, and there’s this unique depth to her that wasn’t there before. 

Megan was dealing with emotionally trying circumstances in life and a her therapist catered to her well-being.  

Megan’s relationships have deepened. She doesn’t hold herself back from challenging conversations. The biggest change that I have seen is that she’s unafraid of expressing herself, even if it is to herself.  

Megan is a mentor today, using her two decades of corporate experience. I had the opportunity to meet her recently, almost after 3 years. 

I wish I could invite you to listen-in in our conversation as it was very insightful. Let me try to summarize the themes we explored:

Gravitating to what’s familiar: As part of her therapy, Megan was told to pick up a new activity, preferably the ones she had always ignored citing paucity of time. She took up a salsa class and that dance form, that physical activity started creating novelty within herself. She met with people who in her familiar circles she would’ve never met. She saw people across ages take to salsa and made friends. Making friends was something that she had earlier only attributed to a younger age. It opened her to possibilities of making new friends no matter at what phase of life you are in. She stopped trying to belong, she learned instead to accept. 

Truly understanding how big a role social media plays in our lives: As globally connected, internet savvy people it is so easy to get impacted by how amazing everybody else is around you. And for somebody who’s not so vocal about their own accomplishments, one constantly feels that they are coming up short in the world at large. Be it showcasing pics of how wonderfully somebody has done up their homes, or their physical transformations at the gym or pictures of a new baby and so on. It is easy to feel that everybody’s lives are in order but yours. And how important it is for us to start being more authentic on social media and not just share the highlights.

Rise of the ‘Atomic’ culture

We realised how atomised our culture is becoming, starting with the individual as a unit. We expect a ton of different things from ourselves and beat ourselves up when we don’t live upto these The objective of seeking mentors or coaches or even therapists for that matter is about seeking connection. Nothing connects people better than shared experiences. So while we are all atomic in nature, most of us are looking for some sort of connection. 

Let me bring THRIVEWITHMENTORING into the mix here. While this wasn’t something that we initially labelled it as, the concept of finding your tribe within the Thrive community is becoming the norm. This sense of community and having a sense of belonging outside of the confines of our families or economic pursuits creates a special bond . My recent experiences as we closed a couple of cohorts showed how the community holds the individuals and creates psychological safety that allows them to reveal their authentic and vulnerable selves, and be seen and validated. 

We understand the tactical reality of Thrive - networking, connections, possibilities to grow, self-development which can also make way for economic or professional gains. But we also know that we are creating an ecosystem that goes beyond business, where there is a sense of camaraderie and sisterhood. Mutual respect and optimism. What starts as a personal growth and one-on-one journey, becomes more communal in nature. To my mind, these kind of networks and relationships contribute to our sense of well-being, as we feel less isolated. We become whole again by connecting with a diverse set of human beings and experiencing interdependence in it’s truest sense.  

Year three of Thrive With Mentoring is manifesting itself as engaged hope. I have witnessed how we are impacted psychosocially by having a group that’s in our corner. Yes, a group. In an increasingly divisive world, where the rhetoric is to stay within our comfort zones – what we need even more are communities where we can embrace difference. I feel privileged that we are sowing the seeds of this sense of community and camaraderie…there remains a lot to learn. 

The things we make, make us…

The communities we shape, shape us… 

More from the author:

About the author:

My passion is to create opportunities and catalyse relationships that help us thrive! I believe that personal, organisational and societal change is an interactive development process and through my interventions I seek to build awareness and action across all. I have had the privilege to have coached and trained leaders and management teams in 40 plus countries globally and on all continents.

Over the last two decades, I have engaged with leadership development, L&D and talent management across the entire spectrum from diagnosis to design to implementation. Currently I run my own niche Executive Coaching Practice to accelerate the leaders path to success through my focus on #LeadershipBranding.

Drop me a message at [email protected] or to schedule a call with me please use : calendly.com/shivangi/15-mins-call

Here are 2 initiatives I have founded : www.thrivewithmentoring.com, a non-profit that catalyses women to women mentoring (currently present in 5 countries) and www.xponential.cc (through which I bring award winning leadership trainings such as Crucial Conversations and Power of Habit).