The Power of Belief: How Unconditional Support Builds Grit

I have been meaning to write this post for a while. I thought I would write it on International Women's Day, but I was too emotionally choked up to do so. But I do want to honour and celebrate my mum, who passed away last year, so here it is. I did share this with some of my colleagues a year back when we were asked to share something deeply personal. Not many people know this, but I dealt with chronic illnesses during my childhood. There were just multiple school years when I missed a significant portion of my school. My mum did her best to take special care of me, frequent doctor visits, and keep me in synch with whatever was happening in school. My struggles continued into my teens, till the point it was impacting how I was feeling and thinking about myself. As a desperate attempt, she took me to an astrologer to see if he had any answers. The astrologer sat us down, took all my details, and drew my birth chart. A couple of minutes into analysing my chart, he told my mum that my chart was terrible and that I would continue to suffer. At this point, I assume my mum thought this was a bad idea and asked me to get up, and we quickly left. We didn’t even hit the street, and she stopped me in the middle of the stairs. She then grabbed my hand, looked straight into my eyes, and addressed me in our native tongue, Gujarati. Here is the translation, “I am sorry you had to hear him say those things. But I want you to listen very carefully to me, and I want you to always remember this. You'll forget whatever this man said to us today. He doesn’t determine your future, and only you do. I believe in you and that you will do wonderful things.” And that stuck with me forever and became the cornerstone of my life. In many leadership sessions in my career, my top value that many of my colleagues identified me with was ‘Grit’. And that is the gift that my mother bestowed on me. My mum was my biggest cheerleader, supporter, and a constant source of abundant unconditional love. The power of someone's belief in our lives is magical. I do hope we keep doing the same for others. Let's speak belief into the lives of people who need it.