Working to Lead

"You cannot lead where you will not go.

You cannot teach what you do not know."

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I recently learned this proverb, and I thought I would share with you all what it has come to mean to me.

I am currently working on my Masters in Mental Health Counseling, and I have spent this week in a class on the dynamics of human sexuality. Needless to say, my emotions were stretched all over the place as I tried to absorb as much information as I possibly could. Our professor introduced this proverb as a preparatory thought for the second day of class and used it as a tool to challenge us to wrestle with the stories of our past, especially in regard to our sexuality.

You see, working within the field of mental health, it is inevitable that any unresolved issues from your past will eventually end up sitting across from you in your clients. It may not happen right away, and likely not with every client, but eventually what you have tried to ignore will rear its ugly head and then you will have to deal with it.

I thought this was a great principle for life, though. Think about it. Do you or I really have any right or authority to tell anyone to go do something that we are unwilling to do? Can we really give a full and realistic picture if we are unwilling to search out the true information? No. We have no right, and in fact, we will do damage. How cruel. If you want to be a leader, and if you want to have the opportunity to influence people, then take the initiative and do the work. And if you don't want to be any of those things, do the work anyways. The effort will be well worth it when you make peace with all aspects of your past.

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Leader