Shine your light and it will be seen!

Womenlines welcomes ANJI HALLEWELL as an Influencer of Positive Mindset on the Womenlines panel. Anji is a Natural Strengths Coach, Trainer, and Founder of Hidden Lava. In her sharing for this month, Anji is talking about putting efforts in shining your light to get visibility in reality-

I’ve always been very curious about where life will take me, what I’m capable of and what impact I can bring to this world. I have travelled extensively, had great adventures and taken fond memories of the places and people I met along the way. Apart from being great fun, it grew me as a person and opened my mind to new and different perspectives. It’s fair to say that I nurtured my growth mindset and I’m pleased to say it remains that way today. As Albert Einstein said, “Once you stop learning, you start dying.”. I take this to mean that growth is the essence of life.
When you run your own business, particularly in the service industry, you are the brand. When you are the brand you are the face of it – which means that you need to be visible. I remember when I started to create my own video content, how exposed and concerned about other people’s opinions I was. What will I talk about? Will anyone be interested? What if the people I know think less of me? What if I receive negative comments from strangers? At the time, the thought of truly stepping out was terrifying! Yet, there was a side of me that knew I had to if I was to fulfil what I had set out to do – empower people to bring meaningful and positive changes into their lives.

My mentor once taught me that we all have a light to share with the world and it takes great courage to override the forces that want to hold you back. These forces are internal and are responsible for killing more dreams than anything else. They will do whatever it takes to keep you right where you are – in your comfort zone. This is the opposite of the growth that Einstein was referring to in the earlier quote. The more important the thing is to you, the higher the internal resistance will be. Through my training, I’ve learnt to recognise when this is happening. Although, I realised today that I can become complacent towards it. Videos became the new normal and stepping out is now something different – talking in front of live audiences. On the video, you are essentially speaking to yourself! There are no faces looking back at you and no body language that you are frantically trying to read. It’s just you and the recorder. But a live audience of strangers, that’s a whole new level of intensity. The parameter of my comfort zone has become wider and there’s a new stepping out in town.

A little bit like when I started my videos, I wanted everyone to feel inspired and for it to deeply resonate. The reality is that more people will not be touched by the light you shine, than those that will. In fact, most people won’t even see it. And I say that with no judgement being passed, it’s just something I’ve come to realise. Should I feel hurt when I don’t get the level of validation expected, or am I focusing on the wrong group of people? What I am describing here would essentially be like trying to woo a gay man and feel deeply rejected when you are unsuccessful. You see, I would be setting myself up to fail from the outset by embarking on this impossible task. Rather than trying to achieve the impossible, I need to shine my light for those who can see it and for those to be drawn towards it. They are the people that matter because they are the ones that I set out to find. This all comes down to focus and attention. It’s a matter of switching focus from what hasn’t been achieved to what has. The wrong focus will only dim the light and at worst it will put it out altogether.
We all have talents to share with the world that can bring tremendous joy to people lives. Will you let your light be dimmed or will you shine it from the rooftops for those who are willing to see? No matter how well you think you know yourself or how strong your mindset may be, it’s a continual process of searching from within to guide you through to your true path. I know what my choice will be because one thing is for certain, no one will see my light if it’s not shining and that is a great disservice to what I can contribute to this world. Shine your light bright so those that need you can find you.