Day 6. Six days to go, and I have started paying attention to the small things that make me smile.
This week it was a screenshot someone shared with me. Orange background, five words in a row: morals, self-awareness, big heart, common sense, empathy. “I love people with…” and then that list.
I read it twice. The second time I realised it was not really a quote. It was a job description. For the people I want in my life, and for the person I am still trying to become.
Let me take them one at a time.
Morals. Not the loud kind. The kind that shows up when nobody is watching and the shortcut is right there. I have worked in banking for a long time. I have seen what happens to people who think integrity is a work thing. It is not a work thing. It is a you thing.
Self-awareness. This one is my introvert superpower and my introvert curse. I know exactly why I am tired after a three hour meeting. I also know, with painful clarity, when I have been the difficult one in the room. Knowing is not the same as fixing, but it is where fixing starts.
Big heart. I used to think this was about being soft. Fifty years in, I think it is about capacity. How many people can you hold in your care at once without dropping any of them? Some of the most generous people I know are not the ones who say the most. They are the ones who remember.
Common sense. Rarer than an MBA, and nobody gives you a certificate for it. It is the ability to look at a beautiful plan and ask, “But will it work on a Tuesday in Nairobi traffic?”
Empathy. The willingness to sit in someone else’s story without rushing to edit it. This is the one that ties the other four together, and the one I am most grateful to have been shown when I did not deserve it.
Here is what I noticed when I laid them out. These five traits look completely different on different people. On one friend, morals show up as quiet stubbornness. On another, a big heart looks like showing up with food and no questions. Nobody wears them the same way, and that is the whole point. It takes different strokes.
If I get to be remembered for anything, I hope it is not the titles or the projects. I hope it is that someone once looked at that orange square and thought of me.
Day 6. My kind of people. Are you one of them?
Come back tomorrow for Day 5: a letter to the girl who was twenty.
Sign the guestbook
Leave me a birthday note, tell me which post was your favourite, or share your own way to shine. I read every one.
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