Tonight
I shared for like over an hour all about the Southwestern lifestyle. It all
started when my teammate Liz found my voice recording of my summer sales talk
on my computer. “It’s a great day to be a book girl” is how it starts out as I
play out what I say at every house. I then demonstrated for my team how I wake
up every morning, excited and sing while taking a quick, cold shower. I also
encouraged them to look in the mirror and say “I feel happy, I feel healthy, I
feel terrific!” which is when they began to think I am crazy. I even showed
them a video of me and my roommates doing something in the morning called
executive exercises, kind of like crazy cheers, where we get ourselves pumped
up for the day.
They
laughed, and for the first time people that I love just kept asking so many
questions about Southwestern and stayed genuinely interested in all I had to
share. In my head I wanted to shut up because I didn’t want to offend anyone or
make myself sound great. As they laughed at crazy stories and continued to be
interested in all the life skills I have gained, I just kept spilling out more.
It
made me miss Southwestern: my friends, my team, LSU, my bosses, Nashville, Awards
Banquet, being exhausted and delirious with roommates from working so hard,
helping others grow and develop, talking in my sleep to my roommates, eating
the same thing every morning, and waking up early and excited. I could go on
and on about all the things I miss about selling books and recruiting, and I am
okay with people knowing that!
For
so long I have lived partially ashamed of my love for Southwestern and how it’s
changed me. I’ve never wanted to offend friends or make them think that I think
I am better than them because I have a high paying summer job and have gained
awesome life skills. After my first summer and coming back to school I felt
like no one understood what I had just gone through and gained, so I put up a
wall as a defense mechanism to people’s harsh judgements and perceptions of my
summer job. Some thought it was like a cult, others thought I was focused on
the wrong things, and my mentality of not being open about how that summer
changed me did not help. Southwestern became the thing I only talked to certain
people about.
When
I was selling books I was on my game, so unashamed and confident that I was
helping families. But when it came to my first year of full-time recruiting, I
reverted back to my ways of being ashamed and not confident about my crazy,
book-selling, summer job. My team did not believe in me that summer (and many
quit) mainly because I had not believed in myself to be a good leader for them.
Last
year was different. With everyone on my team I was real, genuine, no
candy-coating. I told them what would be hard and also what they would gain
through it. They respected that and were attracted, like I was, to those hard
things. Last year I invested so much into my team and they knew that I believed
in each of them because I truly did (and still do!). Last year I experienced
how investing in someone can have such a great impact on a person’s life. I was
able to look back at the summer and watch so many people grow, develop, and
figure out things about themselves that will benefit them so much in future.
I
remember thinking how crazy it is that my boss coaches college students to sell
books for a living and that he has been doing it since he was a freshman in
college. As I think more about it now, he gets to counsel people with the fun
stuff. Through recruiting, training, and leading students to overcome adversity
and be successful I get to help students realize their potential. The students
I’ve had a chance to work with are put into an environment where their strengths
and weaknesses are revealed, self-motivation and determination are tested, and
they learn to be great problem-solvers. A summer selling books provides an
opportunity to see what you are capable of (why I went out my first summer),
develop friendships that will push you, and connect with many types of people.
If
you know me well, then you know that I am all about purpose. Before I do
anything I have to know the underlying purpose. So, when I first dabbled with
the idea of staying with Southwestern after college I had to find a purpose for
doing so. I remember sitting with a handful of leaders in the company during
breaks at a company-wide meeting asking the question “what has kept you around
for so long?” Some of the people I talked to have been with Southwestern for
over 30 years. What I heard over and over again is “I have never heard of a
company where I could impact others in such a life-changing way, while also
growing so much myself.”
As
I heard Liz, my teammate, say tonight how odd she found it that a company would
invest so much in students without anything in return, I was reminded of how
great a company I work with. I agree with all the SW leaders I talked with that
I have never heard of a company where you are able to change people’s lives for
the better while also changing so much yourself. That’s what has kept me around
for four years and for what I hope a couple more.
It’s
so crazy to have this realization while I am halfway around the world from my
SW friends as they get ready for Awards Banquet and then Sizzler. I will
definitely miss those moments, but hopefully I will be in future moments with
people who can thank me for giving them the opportunity to be there. I am so
thankful for the people that trained and believed in me when I didn’t believe
in myself, and that taught me what it is to be a good leader.
Although
it may sound crazy to some, I am SO thankful that God gave me the opportunity
to sell books door-to-door and for allowing me to train and lead others to do
the same. Through those experiences I developed so much confidence, character,
and persistence that I carry wherever I go.
My
teammate Liz (I know I talk about her a lot… I LOVE her!) shared with me that
she sees me as a wise, strong leader and assumed that Southwestern played a
huge role in that. Although the things I have developed are blessings, if I
lean on my own strength and not the strength of the Lord then they are curses,
hindering me from depending on the Lord. She said that I should ask God for
more. To expect Him to show me and use me in crazy ways. To step out in faith
and say “If God doesn’t show up then I am a fool!”
I
want to use what God has blessed me with for His glory and to further His
Kingdom here on earth. I believe my purpose is to pour into people so their
potential is revealed, causing them to desire to further God’s Kingdom as well.
I’m
not sure where or what that looks like yet, but I know that God will reveal His
magnificent plans in due time. He has been faithful thus far and I will
continue to expect huge things that scare me slightly and cause me to question
whether or not God is actually capable of such spectacular things. Because when
He does show up in the craziest of ways I will continue to ask even bigger,
grander things of a God that I will never even begin to comprehend or
understand.
So here’s to faith the size of a
mustard seed moving the most gigantic of mountains. Come On, Lord!
