"All you leave is your impact."
That was the thought that lifted me out of a pool of tears and snot one afternoon as I left the hospital, having said goodbye to my dear client and friend, Elaine. She’d just suffered a massive stroke, and I knew it would be the very last time I’d see her alive if you could call a coma ‘living’.
Had it been anyone else, I would have used the words ‘final farewell,’ but I knew there was nothing final about anything Elaine had ever done. Her kindness, empathic spirit, and good sense would stay with me until the moment it was me lying in some bed somewhere with any of my unused potential puddled about me.
The journey of our lives is about becoming who we were meant to be.
The experiences of our lives are the vehicles that get us there.
-Solomonism #7
Elaine was a psychiatric nurse practitioner who had written several books, had traveled the world teaching, and had a long string of initials trailing her name. Watching her lying there with her life force replaced by a morphine drip, I realized that more than the books and articles she wrote, or the seminars and speeches she gave, what she’d really leave behind was her passion for people and the impact that had. That was all and it was plenty.
When it’s our time, few will remember what we did or how we did it. What will stay with people is how they felt when they were with us, and what they felt when they thought about us. The indelible print is how someone or something made us feel about ourselves — what emotional taste an experience left in our mouths. Somehow the details that caused the dread or delirium fade to the background, and all that is left is how it impacted us at that moment, and how it carries forth to this day.
I’d suggest that maybe this is what all the talk about passion is really all about. We want to have an impact. We need to have an impact. And during these Pandemic days many of us are willing to do whatever it takes to make sure our time counts because we know, deep in our souls, that when it’s all over, all we leave is our impact.
How do you want to be remembered?
What impact do you want to leave?
What's the difference you plan on making?
PLEASE SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS in the comments below.
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Nancy D. Solomon, MA Psych is the CEO and Founder of The Leadership Incubator where she helps leaders identify, address and resolve people problems before they become profit problems so everyone can focus on what they were hired to do-- INNOVATE AND DRIVE GROWTH.
Known as The Impact Expert, she is a main stage speaker, expert trainer and veteran coach who helps leaders solve key issues related to leadership development, employee engagement, and advancing women.
Nancy has made a difference for such companies as Microsoft, Target, Acura, Westin, Nordstrom & ADP as well as with many passionate individuals.
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