The quiet forces in our life that garner little recognition aren’t usually glamorous; they don’t stick out on Instagram and are rarely recognized, but influence us in profound ways. It’s easy to forget how many people impact your journey until you retrace your steps from where you’ve been. The path to where you are today usually includes countless winding roads, sometimes repeating, but never in a straight line.
If you were anything like me in high school, you were an expert on all things and could not be convinced otherwise. I waltzed into college thinking the same and found I was sorely mistaken. I leaned on my practical father’s advice more than I cared to admit, but his ideas on study schedules, surviving difficult roommates, and how to make edible mashed potatoes in a dorm room (the power of garlic salt is not to be underestimated) pulled me through my first year, and a particularly tough Tuesday nowadays. He’s brilliant and practical and can help me see the big picture, something difficult for me to get to on my own.
In my first year of grad school, I worked as a graduate assistant to the manager of graduate affairs. It was her job to event plan professional development opportunities, orientation, and other events for graduate students, and I supported her endeavors. She had just moved to the Midwest from New York City and her experience working with artists and creatives informed her decisions on design, marketing, and event planning in brilliant ways. She was extremely smart, funny, fashionable, and kind. She was also generous with her time and taught me everything she knew. Her mentorship throughout my graduate college career still helps my work/life balance shuffle. I still think of her when I’m close to burnout as she often urged me to “take a break, get coffee, stare out a window.”
My first year of teaching was one of the hardest years of my life. As a special educator, I worked in a high needs area with other fellow first year teachers and we were expected to provide skilled education to the students who needed that the most. I kept in touch with my supervising teacher that I mentored under for student teaching. A 25 year teaching veteran at that time, her motto in working in the inner city was to “show up,” meaning that working in a high needs area, there are abundant needs, from dental care to food to clothing. As a human being, you will want to meet every need, but the only one you can actually meet is showing up. Being a consistent presence in your students’ lives is all you can do your first year. I think about “showing up” in general when I’m feeling inadequate. It’s more than okay to just show up sometimes.
As a content manager at a health and wellness education center, I began my job focusing on writing web copy and creating marketing plans for their online presence. To do this, I had to get to know the product, and in doing so, learned about myself in major ways. My supervisor, the creator of a specialized movement and bodywork paradigm, taught me about my own personal ergonomic needs, movement tendencies that throw my body out of alignment, as well as diet, lifestyle, and immunity advice that changed the way I look at wellness completely. I learned to listen to what my body needs and that was a shift that improved my life forever. I am rarely injured or sick because I finally learned how to take care of myself through the mentorship of my supervisor, a true visionary in the health and wellness field.
Who has helped you become the person you are today? How have the quiet influences aided your journey so far? Our unsung heroes are just that: not celebrated or praised enough. Look for the quiet forces in your life that have helped you. Celebrate their influence. Acknowledge their presence. Make a life road map of all the twists and turns you have made, and pause to reflect on the ones that stopped to help you move forward.
Author: Sarah Ronau