This week I was blessed by hearing about my positive involvement in other people’s lives. I was lifted by hearing about this. I am open about my life, but respect the privacy of other people so I am not really at liberty to write about this but what I want to say is that letting others know they have had a positive impact can really life them, as it did me.
How are you all getting on on your hope adventure? I shared this morning a wonderful reblog about someone who was burgled and it changed the course of their life. My own hope story has many similar tales and here is just one of them.
I was devastated when I passed the entrance exam for Oxford University, but failed the interview. I felt my academic path had closed and my life was smashed to bits. I was only young and my dreams were smashed. Rivers of despair poured over me.
Years and years later when I was a learning mentor in a school helping a young person, I spoke about this and it occurred to me that I would never have met this amazing person if I had got into Oxford. Nor would I have become a social worker eventually and had the honour of working with other amazing young people. If I look inside my deepest self I know that I would have become an academic and probably an academic snob! I would have never worked in the fields I have and I think I would not have been the best version of myself. I am glad now that the answer was no for me to go to Oxford. A much better path opened up.
Sometimes the doors marked firmly SHUT are the best doors ever. Forcing them open may be a disaster. And that is today’s recipe of hope. If a door has slammed shut in your face, consider a different path. Consider a different university or job. Maybe look at an option you had disregarded. And if you feel that it is right to pursue it, speak to others to advise you. Sometimes giving up and walking away is the right thing to do.
May you all know the hope of the closed door as well as the open one X
