Who motivates you to be your best self?

One of my earliest jobs was monitoring tests as exam invigilator at my high school. During my university's freshman year, I took that work on weekends to get some extra money besides my recurrent job as a tutor for young students. The pay was little, but it helped me to earn an extra income on my late teenage years.

On my very first day there, the supervisor asked the senior invigilators to train and help the rookies while sorting out the teams. I was then paired with a lady who worked there for years. She was this sweet and kind woman, her grey stricken hair always neat and tied back, with a soft-speaking voice and wide, smiley eyes. Above all, she was extremely professional towards everyone and serious about her work.

From the start, she trained me and others with an unwavering patience, advised me not to distract myself and taught me to behave in a way that demanded respect from the students. She would always be one of the first to arrive every Saturday, despite living far from the school and commuting for hours on public transport.

One weekend, she didn't show up, which made me wonder if she has landed a full-time job instead, and how happy I would be for her if that were true. The next Saturday, I found out that she had lost her only son in a car accident. Despite the unbelievable pain that she must had had endured, she arrived there at the exact same time she'd always do, but with tears in her eyes and an unfathomable sorrow that permanently scarred her smile. When the school clock chimed, she quickly wiped her tears and went off to the classroom as any other day of work.

With hindsight, she was one of my first professional examples of strong work ethics, resilience and hard work in spite of extremely difficult circumstances. I couldn't help but feel ashamed of any complaint or dissatisfaction I had, for all of them were significantly minor and irrelevant to what she has experienced. That learned conscience and mindset would later follow me throughout my career whenever I would feel sorry or unhappy of myself and my preoccupations.

Now and then, I get to reflect deeply on who encourages me to be better, to feel grateful of what I have and keep on working harder, especially on the hard times.

When I think about it, not only that lady but many other women I've met in my life come up to my mind with flashes of their own stories, struggles and quotes of encouragement. As a daughter of a strong woman, sister of two modern wonder women and proud to have inspiring female friends as my closest confidants, I have been fortunate to be surrounded with unique examples of true grit, courage and perseverance in my life.

From working moms handling all the incurred pressures on daily basis to young women juggling their careers and family responsibilities, I have in me all the examples that drive and fuel my will to overcome and thrive. In the midst of it, my most special and precious one is undoubtedly my late mother. She and my father immigrated to Brazil with two kids and no job, connections or, most frighteningly, without speaking a word in Portuguese! Notwithstanding, she raised us with the utmost standards and values of discipline and dedication. What a privilege to have her as my most outstanding role model.

These women also taught me through stern and stiff words too, which actually served to be pivotal in reassessing and correcting my behavior for the better. Sometimes, we all need a stronger nudge and push, such as when I told my eldest sister how difficult it was to get a job during my Masters, and that I was about to give up on trying. She looked at me and said, "We all need to work hard in this life, Susana. Nothing comes easy. Pull yourself together and work for it!". A few weeks after, I got a part-time job at my university which opened many opportunities for me and unveiled my passion for writing. I wonder if I would have gotten that experience without her wake up call.

I once read that we are all made of the connections and people whom we meet in our lives, like it or not. That could not be truer. Every piece of us is affected by what we have observed and learned from others. Our relationships mold us.

So I would like to end this post with a simple request of reflection for you. What or who is your source of inspiration to be a better person and professional? To try harder, be kinder, work harder? To be the best that you can be?

*Photo by Karl Magnuson on Unsplash