Remember Your Why Live in Your Purpose
remember your why
and living your purpose when i was 17
years old
i got my very first job where i knew
that
what i did mattered jobs before that
were jobs where i would just get a
paycheck
pay some bills meet some people but this
job was
different this job when i was 17 i got
i was a certified nursing assistant a
cna
and in that job i remember working at a
nursing home
and every day we would send our
residents down to lunch
this particular day i was sending my
residents down to lunch
and mrs g had been sitting at the front
door
all day long i said i’m going to grab
miss g and i’m going to take her down to
lunch next
came to get miss g miss she it’s time to
go eat lunch
and she said baby i’m not going to lunch
today
i’m waiting for my husband to come home
miss g had alzheimer’s
and i knew her husband wasn’t coming
home anytime soon
her husband had died 20 years before
rather than rushing her and herring her
along to lunch i sat down next to her
i said ms g tell me about your husband
tell me what type of man he was
talk to me a little bit about your
children
and what did she do her face just lit up
and she talked all about her husband how
great of a man he was
all the great things he was doing in the
world how awesome he was to their kids
i walked down memory lane with her for a
full hour and it was the best
hour of my life i had in a very long
time
and that moment is when i realized
my why why i came to work every day why
my work did not even feel like work
and why my work was helping me live in
my purpose
your purpose i have a purpose you have a
purpose
it’s for the good of the village if we
do not live in our purpose
we will not be living in our why and
that’s the question your why
what is your why remember your why
your why is going to drive your purpose
so i’ve graduated since then right so
i’ve graduated from certified nursing
assistant to registered nurse to
family nurse practitioner and now i’m a
nationally recognized healthcare school
consultant
in all of those roles i have had
different purposes
and each time i’ve always had to
remember my why
why because things get hard life gets
rough right
and sometimes you’re doing things that
you’re trying to do it the best that you
can and then things are just crashing
down around you you have
challenges you have things you’re trying
to figure out
but you have to remember and stay
grounded
in your why in 1998
my mother was murdered it was because of
the domestic violence
that went too far and i remember being a
teenager and i was
broken my world at that time was
crashing down
around me i didn’t want to move on
i would have unimaginable thoughts as a
teenager i was so fragile
but guess what the village
it was the village
it was a ceo who owned a soul food
restaurant who gave me my
job it was my childhood best friend’s
mother and grandmother mrs folks and mrs
williams who gave me a home
was a girl named amy who let me get an
apartment in her name because i was a
minor and i
i couldn’t sign a lease on my own it was
a nurse who pushed me and said you are
the bomb girl you need to go on and
become a nurse
all of these people they lived in their
purpose
and i don’t know where i would be if it
were not for each one of them anymore
i could go on right we all could go on
but the idea is
they lived in their purpose now i don’t
know their why i don’t know your why
it’s up to you to figure that out what
is your why
you need to remember it at all times i
like to think of your why
you might be saying victoria what’s the
difference between why and what’s the
difference between purpose right
sometimes people get these confused well
there’s a y and there’s a purpose i like
to think that the purpose
is the aftermath of your why right
so let’s define it real quick let’s get
techy here your y
is your motive for your action your
purpose
is your action or goal to be achieved
because of that why
right so with that being said
that means that you can’t have a purpose
if you don’t know your why
period can we agree people go through
their life
always asking you what is your purpose
what is your purpose do people ever ask
you what is your why
suddenly do we ask people that i’m
asking you to think about that right now
now when we think about our why there’s
three things you need to think about in
regards to your why
number one your why is dynamic that
means it will change over time and that
is okay
it’s supposed to your why comes from a
personal experience within
right now each of you have a why whether
you recognize it or not
and number three your why can take on a
negative or a positive journey
right so i’m gonna break these down real
quick number one your why is dynamic
when we first come into this world we
think about nobody but ourselves period
that’s just the way it is as time
progresses and people come in and out of
your life
you have children you have nieces and
nephews you have grandkids now your why
kind of
it shifts it evolves it becomes about
them
for me my why was always about me until
my mom passed
she left me a baby sister my wife became
all about her
i’m going to challenge you to think
right now how has your why evolved
personal experiences remember i told you
your y can also come from personal
experiences it’s already inside of you
embrace it
think about it when i took care of mrs g
my job was to be there for her to care
for her when no one else could
i lived in that purpose why because i
wanted someone to care for and take care
of me
right now i help people create health
care schools all around the nation i
help entrepreneurs live out their
wildest dreams why because i wanted
someone to help me do the same
think about your personal experiences
and how they have shaped your why today
next is the journey remember i told you
your wife can take you on a negative or
a positive route but it’s up to you to
choose
see sometimes we can take what we’ve
learned and we can create hell for
others
because of it right i’ve been through
health so i’ma put y’all through hell
too
or you can say you know what this
experience
i’m gonna i’m gonna change the world
because of this experience
i’m going to make my mark you have a
choice now when we’re talking about the
village in order for the village to
thrive
you have to take the positive journey
if you take the negative one you will
leave the village in a
place of despair solitude and grief
that is not how we thrive we thrive
by touching one another by being there
for one another for remembering our why
and living in
our purpose so i’m going to challenge
each of you
think about your why
think about how you got there think
about how it’s driving your purpose
think about your experiences that have
happened that have shaped your why
over time and think about how you’re
going to march out in your journey
because guess what there is somebody on
the other side waiting for you
to live in your purpose and your why and
if you don’t
the village will fail and the cycle will
continue
it is up to you i challenge you do not
forget
your why