It is What You DO With What You Have

I created this for my friend Maya, and wanted her to read these words to plant the seed for her future. Maya graduated this week and as she pursues her future, these words will hopefully settle into her soul:

I learned that making a living
is not the same as making a life

– Maya Angelou 2014

When I graduated from college, I thought I was ready to live my life. Looking back I see that for many years I worked hard to simply make a living. I lived from paycheck to paycheck – as many college grads do – and eventually found my way to a better job, which meant better income, which afforded me the chance to start building the life I really wanted to live. I made new friends, found things I was passionate about, and I began seeing my income as a portion of my world not what defined my life.

I believe those lean years were a true gift. I had to scrape and go without, live within my means and I had to work harder to build my skills so I could qualify for better jobs. The going without primed the pump for me to truly value what I had once I was able to actually have extra income. It helped me learn what was important to me…not just what people told me was important.

I think one of the best gifts we can give people is not everything they want or need. I think giving them the skills and education to earn those things for themselves as that is what makes them the person they will become. Maya has always had a job outside of school, sometimes more than one. She saves, drives a beat up car, works hard. At graduation I asked her how she was paying for college. She told me she has her undergraduate studies paid for with scholarships…woo hoo! Her goal is to get out of college and medical school debt free. HUGE goal, and she is earning her way there already. She’s already looking into how to earn scholarships for med school…remember, she’s only eighteen years old.

It is not the stuff we have that defines the person we are, it is who we are that defines the stuff and adventures we want to have. All along our journey we learn what we want, what we don’t want, and who we want to be when we grow up. And “grown up” changes as the years add up.

So let’s take a lesson from Maya Angelou and my friend Maya. Let’s get excited about who we are, what we want, and what we are willing to do to get where we want to go. No one can define how we live our life; only we can do that. Remember, your paycheck and bank balance do not define you. It is what you DO with what you have that defines how YOU will build your life…so choose wisely.