I

A little over a year ago, I got to observe my friend Dustin teach a class.

He's an excellent and entertaining speaker... seriously one of the best I've ever been around.

And while living inside the stories of his lesson, I was introduced to a term that has shaped the last year and a half of my life.

"Ubuntu."

The origin of this word comes from the Zulu tribe of South Africa. And it translates to:

"I am because you are.

And you are, because I am."

It is the way of being for the Zulu people.

The reason they work so hard in their roles in their lives is not because it is self-serving. It is because they know that if they make themselves better, they will be more equipped to make the people around them better.

And the people around them? Well the reason they work so hard is not about themselves... it's about the person next to them. The one willing to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them as they develop together. Not separately, but across those units of connection that we can't always measure or define.

Whenever I heard this, it was almost like I could hear nothing but my own breathing.

I remember so clearly hearing my voice in my own head.

With such certainty, and with a feeling that I can only describe as something close to grace, confidence, and relief...

"It's not about me."

This is going to sound dramatic, but I swear my pupils dilated.

My motivation multiplied with this explosive moment of clarity. My very own Big Bang LOL

Of course!!!!

Every single one of us peruses around looking for purpose when it has been right in front of our faces this whole time.

Suddenly the late nights on the computer,

the sweat,

the tears,

the stress,

the week-long stretches of ramen noodles,

the quarters I scraped off of my floorboard,

the "hard" that is an unfortunate and inevitable part of the human experience,

it all made a little bit more sense.

I wonder if this is what it feels like to be a parent?

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This is my philosophy as a coach, a teacher, and a learner.

It has removed pressure and added clarity to the moves that I make.

When I approach those (very natural) feelings of overwhelm or anger or greed...

Ubuntu pulls me back into the lane that I have established my values inside of.

I don't know what "exactly" I'm building.

I can't define it. Or at least not yet.

But the other day, I was asked on a podcast how I would describe myself as a coach in three words?

I smiled. And with a sense peace that I have had very few encounters with in my life, I said,

"Not about me."

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<3

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BriAnna

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