My work WILL empower 1 million people.

I’ve secured an opportunity to do exactly that.

I applied, got accepted into, and was awarded a fellowship for
Silicon Valley startup accelerator Founder Institute!

I waited months for a decision.

I applied in November ’21, and was made a finalist the next week. Just recently in late March… they wrote with the news. 🥳

SUPER EXCITED, it also feels scary.

They talk constantly, incessantly, about how hard it is, how you WILL want to drop out, how only ~30% of founders make it through…

I willfully ignored all this when I applied. (lol) With what I’ve been through? I knew I’d be okay. With everything I’ve overcome in my life, and continue to, *of course* I can make it through this.

I wasn’t worried. I was intrigued. It felt like… “life.”

So I told myself.

Once I got accepted, I was 50% excitement and 50% “O shyt, wtf have I done, I don’t think I can do this, look at these requirements, look at everything I gotta do, I haven’t done anything like this before!!!”

Ratchet grammar. No periods; all commas. (And not the good kind.)

As I continued reading, researching, absorbing, PREPPING, and planning … that ratio calmed to 70/25. Then 80/20. Then 90/10.

Because here’s the thing.

What stuck with me was this:

I was reading an article (I think somewhere on F.I.) about how it takes about THE SAME AMOUNT OF WORK to build A MILLION-DOLLAR COMPANY as it does a smaller company.

(!)

Lightbulb moment.

Hell. I’ve definitely been putting in the usual WORK in the past year or so, building my newest. So why would I NOT power forward: go big or go home?

For me, there IS no going “home.”

“Home” is this new, accelerated, leveled-up life that I’m building for myself and my most trusted loved ones. Not just family, but friends, too.

“Home” IS the “going big.”

“Home” is continuing to transcend the effects of my past, and building any kind of future I WANT.

Finally.

—

I’m well aware that this is only “another beginning.” Another level up.

But it IS a level up.

Some days are so calm. “Slow,” even.

That’s by design.

Because I fill others, like today, so full that I feel like I’m barreling ahead WAY TOO FAST to the next meeting, the next workshop, the next client session, the next pro-bono session, and the next, and the next, and the next.

But it only *feels* too fast because I’m outside my comfort zone. In GROWTH MODE.

Last point:

We often cannot trust what we mistake for “intuition.”

Too often, we let that “inner feeling” tell us that…

because a thing was uncomfortable…
“because I felt uneasy”…
because it felt too risky…

…I let myself reject this opportunity to GROW, to settle back into what’s cozy.

No.

Because, you see, the mind plays tricks. As does the body.

Scientifically speaking? That we feel triggered by a thing doesn’t necessarily make it an unsafe thing. Our bodies can over-protect based on our past. Self sabotage city.

Don’t let the anxiety win.

Life is a beautiful, exciting, scary, topsy-turvy whirlwind of new, and different, and uncertain, and challenging, and growth-producing experiences right now… and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Because I recognize METAMORPHOSIS in progress.

*I* set it in motion. (Both intentionally and not.)

I’m excited and grateful for everything Founder Institute has built, and how it empowers US — the impactpreneurs — to make an even bigger, even bolder difference.

MY WORK WILL CHANGE THE WORLD.

It is already changing.

It is written.

-HM