A few weeks ago, I spoke at the Gunnery school in Connecticut. I was excited to go because Connecticut is a place I have always enjoyed and this time was no different. The weather was just right, the leaves had just started to change and there wasn’t any snow! I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the students. They were really great! I left feeling thankful for the opportunity to partner with schools, especially a school I had never worked with before.
Well, about a week after I returned, I received one of the best emails ever! I mean, it was so good, that after I finished reading it, I sat for a moment to just take it in. I didn’t rush to the next thing, I just took it in.
Why? Because I needed to just take it in.
Yes, I said needed. See, the past few weeks I have been going nonstop. All for good reason, but with the going, there hasn’t been a lot of time to sit and take things in.
So when I received the email saying thank you, I decided to sit and appreciate the gratitude and to be grateful. I do not take it for granted that I get to do what I love. Marvelous University is a dream come true. I love speaking, teaching, coaching and writing. Most of all, I love connecting with young people.
I’m grateful for adults who invest in their daughters, nieces, friends, and goddaughters by allowing me to be their coach. And I’m grateful for the girls and young women who say, okay, she can coach me and they show up.
I am grateful that schools and communities make the investment and trust me to come in and speak with their students, faculty and staff. I am thankful they invite me in to be a key part of the change they want to make for their school culture.
I thought about sharing the email with you, so you can share in my gratitude, but was hesitant. I was nervous that I would appear boastful. But, a dear sister known as my BFFLS helped me to remember that’s not me at all so I have got to stop fretting over an untruth! (See, even the coach needs coaching). Folks need to see gratitude. Because when I say I am grateful…I am grateful for emails like this:
Hello Shanterra!
I just wanted to reach out and say thank you so much for traveling up to our school and presenting to many different audiences. The feedback over the course of the whole week has been overwhelming. Both the boys and the girls groups were excited by the program and it created good momentum…they have been talking about it on campus such that I’ve had faculty members who were not present come up and say that they’ve heard from the kids how great the program was…to me, that is a huge statement! That being said, I knew it from being in the room that we were so lucky to have you there handling those crowds and opening their minds in a way they usually are able to be very stubborn about!
Our Academic Dean was particularly excited about the boys program and how incredibly purposeful your discussion was. He commented on how you let them (in his words) dig their own hole about how they never hold grudges or have arguments and how they eventually had to be more honest with themselves.
Anyway, it was awesome…your insights were so helpful and our challenge now is how to best utilize all the wonderful positive momentum you gave us! Thank you so much!!
So in this season of gratitude,
to every school I’ve ever partnered with;
to every student who sat in my office and wanted my opinion;
to every camper who now wants to change the world;
to every parent who has ever asked what do you think I should do;
to every coachee who has said yes, that helped;
to every mentee who, through our relationship, reminds ME of my purpose;
to every teacher I had who let me talk and listened to me;
to every counselor I’ve known who inspired me to change the world;
to every mentor who helped shape my purpose;
to my own parents who said I believe you can do it;
Thank YOU!
Full of gratitude and taking it in,
Shanterra
Marvelous University 