[vc_row padding_top=”0px” padding_bottom=”0px”][vc_column fade_animation_offset=”45px” width=”1/1″ id=”” class=”post-content” style=””][text_output]The road of life has many ups and downs. When we stop and look behind us, we did not make it this far on our own. Many people have played different roles in our lives and together they carried us to the point we are now. There are typically three roles that people play in our lives: coach, mentor or parent; each having a different objective and focus.
A coach or teacher typically has a particular skill or objective and that is where they are focused. World class athlete Usain Bolt, would not be the fastest man in the world without his coach. Surely there was a time when he didn’t feel like training or was defeated by injury. Lacking hope and vision isn’t a problem if we can follow a coach who has that hope and knows our true potential. They are the ones who can push us to meet our objective. A coach generally brings tough love and we don’t necessarily have to like them but we do have to TRUST them.
Good mentors do not have specific objectives. Rather, they help us to be more than we can even conceive. They are looking several years ahead and lend us the benefit of their experience, motivating us as people and not for any particular goal. Do you have a teacher who impacted your life so much that you still visit them even after leaving that school? You may even repeatedly go back to update them when you have reached a new chapter in your life. Mentors are more than just coaches, they are cheerleaders who offer steady guidance and support that we appreciate most in retrospect.
Parents are by far the most under-appreciated group. They were “in your face” for many years, seeing your worst and your best but still looking forward to seeing you again. They provided love and support while doubling or tripling up as mentors, coaches AND financiers. In their heart, they want to help us avoid the mistakes they made and live a better life than they did. Every day, they have poured out their hearts and have lead us to become greater than they were. Sadly, we never appreciated it.
The missing link is always TRUST! A coach is powerless if they are not trusted. A mentor can also advise us only as much as we trust them. Parents too require trust but that trust is generally eroded because we see them every day; in many cases what stays in our mind is nagging. Many youths think their parents are annoying and killjoys. As we age, we realise that our lives could have been different if we had trusted them more.
When we can trust our parents, coaches and mentors, the burden is not ours to bear alone. If we think we already know what is best for us, we will miss out on a lot. We got this far because of these support persons, people we took for granted but who ignored our grumblings and carried us on their shoulders to where we are today. They ignored our complaints and pushed us in the direction that would yield the most fruit.
Many times the road looked too hard and painful so we wanted to give up. Nonetheless, we got here because someone cared! If you are unhappy, think about it, who is YOUR coach or mentor? What about YOUR parents, do/did you trust them? You can’t coach, mentor or parent yourself, so…who do YOU trust?[/text_output][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row padding_top=”0px” padding_bottom=”0px”][vc_column fade_animation_offset=”45px” width=”1/1″][vc_raw_html]JTNDc3R5bGUlM0UlMEEuZW50cnktdGh1bWIlMjBpbWclMjAlN0IlMEElMjAlMjAlMjAlMjBtYXgtaGVpZ2h0JTNBJTIwNDAwcHglM0IlMEElN0QlMEElMEEucG9zdC1jb250ZW50JTIwJTdCJTBBJTIwJTIwJTIwJTIwdGV4dC1hbGlnbiUzQSUyMGp1c3RpZnklM0IlMEElMjAlMjAlMjAlMjB0ZXh0LWp1c3RpZnklM0ElMjBpbnRlci13b3JkJTNCJTBBJTdEJTBBJTNDJTJGc3R5bGUlM0U=[/vc_raw_html][/vc_column][/vc_row]
