The Power of Words

I walked into his office to resign. I think he walked in to fire me? We’ll never know because I beat him to the punch.

My first job out of college, a total failure within three months. The biggest takeaway?

“You aren’t as creative as I thought.”

Words. Simple words that 16 years later he probably has no recollection of saying.

Words that I held close to my heart for 15 years.

Fifteen years of saying, “Oh no, I need to work with numbers, anything analytical. My mind doesn’t work that way.” Fifteen years of tampering the desire to design and create.

“You seem very competent, I’m sure you can do anything you set your mind to.”

Words. Simple words that broke the stronghold.

The doctor had just biopsied a lymph node. She asked if I was in the medical field because I was “so comfortable in medical settings.”

I jokingly made a disparaging remark that I wouldn’t be able to cut it as a doctor. She could have continued the joke, made small talk about life.

But she chose to speak words of life into me.

“I’m sure you can do anything you set your mind to.”

In this moment I felt the full power of words. And it stopped me in my tracks.

• How was I speaking to my kids? Was I encouraging or belittling?
• How was I speaking to myself? Did I believe I could do hard things?

Yesterday, I attended Memorial Hermann’s “In The Pink of Health” luncheon that raises money for breast cancer, specifically an incredible organization called Canopy Cancer Survivorship Center.

The keynote speaker, Shayla Rivera, used humor to speak words of life into the room. The biggest takeaway: “Words have power.” and “Wherever you are is where you are supposed to be.”

Words can be a weapon or a life raft.

And my biggest takeaway?

I am creative.