Trust you are having a super Sunday. Maybe you just did a good deed that made someone smile. You should feel proud of yourself.
Last week we started the discussion on Growth and it was clear that it has to be intentional. No one improves by accident. Personal and or professional growth don’t just happen. You can start today and stop waiting on what you think is the perfect moment. Like maybe when you lose weight or start a new job or a new relationship. As Nike says: “LET’S DO IT.”

As we implement changes for the better not everyone will be happy for you and you may lose some people along the way. It is a good time to ask ourselves questions:
Who are the people in your immediate circle? Do they care about you? Can they assist you to grow?
I have learnt so much through the 15 invaluable laws of growth by John Maxwell, which I will share with you over time. Years ago I knew I had to improve my life not just for me but for my first daughter Mariska. Just a couple months ago the memories came back like a flood as if it was yesterday.

I made a decision that no matter where in the world I am to visit a hospital.
Recently I visited the children’s ward at the Georgetown Public Hospital to check on the kids. Some people have no visitors and it is comforting sometimes just to chat with someone and hear their words of encouragement. It is sad to see so many kids suffering from cancer, diabetes, heart, and kidney failure.

I was chatting with one of the moms and was looking at her son Gavin who was coloring a book and smiling, even though he was obviously very ill. I went close to him and started chatting about colors and he got so excited. I looked at this innocent boy not knowing that his kidney was failing and how sick he really was.
I talked with over a dozen moms and tried to be encouraging even though the odds seemed against them. As mothers, we worry about our children and try not to let them know how anxious and concerned we really are . I encouraged them to keep praying because everything is possible with GOD.

As I walked out of the hospital with tears running down my face, some memories of the past flooded my mind. A feeling of deja vu .
A little over 23 years ago I was walking out the same children’s ward with tears running down my face as my daughter was crying and screaming: “MOMMY, MOMMY, MOMMY.”
I walked down those stairs and into the yard and that’s when the floodgates opened. I can still hear her crying because her crib was at the window and she was watching me.

I looked back at the innocent, tiny face staring at her mommy leaving her with people she has never seen. She seemed perplexed since it was always the two of us everywhere I went. For a few years I seldomly went places that I could not take my baby. I remembered at the time they were many kids hospitalized with gastroenteritis so two children were placed in one small crib.

I felt helpless sitting there for hours waiting for someone to look at her. As ‘gastro’ was threatening my daughter’s life all I could do was pray that God would spare her life. I had promised Mariska and myself while she was in my womb to be a great mom but now I felt like a failure.
I was living in Bartica but because she was so ill she needed to get to the city ASAP.

I traveled from Bartica to Georgetown with very little funds available to me. Her dad was not a part of her life financially or otherwise. I returned the next morning to find my daughter and the other baby playing in their feces. It broke my heart that I could not take her to a private hospital with better facilities but that was not an option.

Two days later the beautiful little girl sharing the crib with my daughter died. I panicked as I looked at her alone in the crib, very weak but very happy to see me.
I vowed then without knowing how, that I would put a plan in place, so as to never again be in this position. I knew my WHY. “What is your why?
As Havard psychologist Jerome Bruner says: “You’re more likely to act yourself into feeling than feel yourself in action.”

Sometimes we just need to believe it is possible and to take that leap and grow our wings on the way down.
It feels great to invent yourself and sometimes even reinvent yourself.
Remember it is your story.
Trust MY story motivated someone.

You cannot change your destination overnight but you can change your direction, overnight — Jim Rohn.
I am inviting you to join me every morning from Monday to Friday on Radio Guyana 89.5 and weekly in the Pepperpot as we continue this beautiful Journey called Life Beyond The Runway.