The first 10 years of my career were focused on kids.

Sure, I did parent training and professional development for teachers. I was the supervisor of an agency providing support. But all was based in direct support for kids. Specifically kids with special needs.

This fact really shaped my career and perspective in the world.

Everyday, I went to work and was trusted by parents to care for, teach, guide, the most important part of their life. I felt the weight of this. Not in an overwhelming way. Not in a self important way. In the sense of the magnitude of impact I could make each day.

I have heard parents say that having a child is like having your heart live outside your body. People were letting me hold their hearts!

I felt a huge sense of responsibility and honor to be doing this work.

Everyday I did my best because it mattered. Yes, it mattered in the global sense of doing good in the world. It also mattered in a more immediate and tangible way – parents asked me each day how things went and wanted an update. I could feel the hope in their voice that good things happened and progress was made.

I could feel the love in the parents’ voices. Even when frustrated and upset, the love for their children was so tangible to me.

This is how I started to connect work with love.

I didn’t love each kid I worked with. Some I did 🙂

All the kids I treated with love. This was important. No matter what unfolded during our time together, I did my best to treat them with love.

This was not something I was taught to do. In teacher training they don’t talk about being charged with someone else’s whole world and how precious it is to be trusted by parents. Somehow I just instinctively felt the importance.

Honestly, I didn’t realize this is what I was doing till recently, as I look back on my career.

As my work world expanded and I started providing support directly to parents and working with organizations, that sense of love stuck with me. Treating people with love and believing that someone cares deeply for this person.

This has made it easier to navigate hard moments, face confrontational people and lead critical conversations.

This is the formation of my secret ingredient!

Thank you to everyone who came to my webinar on Friday or considered coming to the webinar! The feedback has been so appreciated!!!

I talked about this story and shared my beliefs that help me treat people with love. We then did 3 exercises to help connect to love – for yourself and others.

It ended up being a bit longer than I planned – about 50 minutes. While I was hoping for it to be shorter, there was so much I wanted to share.

You can catch the replay here.

Let me know your thoughts once you watch it. Do you have questions? Does it resonate? 

This is my first time talking so openly about my secret ingredient and I would love to hear how you feel about the topic. 

The golden nuggets for you this week:

1. Think about the beginning of your career or adult life. There are ways you learned to be that are impacting you today, can you find any patterns? 

2. This week I was brave and did a new thing. You can too! Do something new that scares you this coming week!

3. You are LOVED!