The 'I' Word

Here is this writer, in her place of work. Her first home of impact!

I have been thinking about the word impact for a while now. Impact meaning to influence or mark. I have been asking myself, "Who gets to impact their surroundings?", "How do they do it?" and "How do they think?"

I have scoped across social media and familiar circles and found an astonishing finding-that although some are more prominent in others (by means of online presence and following), they share a common denominator: belief.

The line between a man who impacts their surroundings and one who merely exists is stretched over belief. Belief in self and most importantly, belief in what they are producing. Yes, producing. I have observed that people who impact society are ALL producers. They create spaces, opportunities, time and (most commonly seen) consumable content.

On a friendly meeting which involved an interview

Another interesting fact. That the people who have influenced my positive decisions most have not been those who are with the more endowed online following but those who think differently and are not afraid of the response that comes after their expression. Whether you approve of their content or not, they simply do not care. They are doing what they are meant to be doing and your opinion of it bears no weight upon their scales.

So Lack of fear. Unshakeable belief.

"The numbers do not matter-showing up does."

Fierce consistency: The numbers do not matter-showing up does. Keep chopping at the rock even if it means you chopping 100 times. It will shatter at the 101st hit because of the cumulative effort of the former 100 strikes. I cannot help but think about David, Moses, Elisha, Mary mother of Jesus, Jabez, Ruth and so forth. These people were not born into prestige. They did not have a huge following. They may not even have known that they would ever scale the hall of faith. But God did. And one thing they all share is that they were found faithful. They kept planted in their purpose.

They kept pushing in their farms, homes, with their families and everywhere else they were needed. In the minute and seemingly useless tasks. They kept doing what they were meant to do. And God found them planted. He found them moving. He just added momentum. A pep in their step. Now we ALL know these people. Their impact has outlived them.

I sat down to think about my life as it is and I thought of the major decisions that I have to make as I close 2021. The many boulders I have to move. The challenges and valleys I have to overcome. I weighed this all on my scales and found all those things worth it. Impact comes at a very expensive cost. Saying no to comfort and allowing your stretch factor to be challenged is one of those things that come along with it.

I have decided that I will show up. No matter how tired, how worn out, stressed or burnt out I am.

Perhaps my showing up may just be waking up and getting to work on time and coming home and resting as early as I can and sometimes showing up will mean creating content on every social media handle I have plus venturing into new series and partnerships. Whatever that means for me at that time, I will make it happen.

I have come to see that my impact is not contingent on the number of people that follow me, read my blogs or watch my videos. My impact is measured first by God's standards. Because what does it benefit me to gain the whole world and then lose my soul? (Mark 8:36) Does God think I am being impactful? If He does, then I am-with my 5 willing purpose mates or 500,000. Whatever God sees fit to accord the anointing over my life. So, dear reader, join me, will ya?