I have read the below quote many times and I never agreed with it. I thought people should be able to interact with people from diverse backgrounds and learn different things. It seemed to propagate for the theme of birds of the same feather flocking together. I have however changed my mind on this. There is a vast truth in this simple quote. It’s all about being tribemates 101.
Do not get me wrong- there is nothing wrong with interacting with a diverse group of people. In fact, I encourage it. We learn so much from it. I am simply saying that those people with whom you are constantly and consistently with should be people with whom you are comfortable and vulnerable to share your dreams and goals, have similar goals and you push each other to be better. That’s the crux of the matter- a person or groups of persons who push you to be better, who push you to a common goal.
“If you hang out with chickens, you are going to cluck. If you hang out with eagles, you’re going to fly.“
Steve Maraboli
When I think of Alcoholics Anonymous(AA), that is exactly it: A tribe. According to their website, AA is an international mutual aid fellowship with the stated purpose of enabling its members to stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety.
They have twelve traditions that they stand on but I will tell you about Tradition One. Unity: They believe unity of the group will allow the members to reach their goals because it is difficult to recover from addictions alone thus ones journey becomes rudderless if you place ‘self’ over others. Isn’t that beautiful?
Now while I may not be addicted to any substance, I was the queen of procrastination. What could be done today was pushed to tomorrow and so on and so forth that I never accomplished anything. I felt so terrible about myself. I used to bemoan over the fact that I used to be so determined. Whenever I would set my mind to something, I would do it and now I was just a shell of my former self. I couldn’t seem to shake myself off this conundrum until I was introduced to New Generation Mentoring group(NGMP).
NGMP Tribe
NGMP is a group coaching program where women are taken on a journey of self-discovery and along the way, we learnt habits and skills that helped us achieve our goals and dreams- we were able to articulate them and in doing so, set goals that worked towards their achievement. It is surprising that I even joined such a group considering I disliked women groups but that’s another story that you can catch here.
One of my goals is to be an inspirational and transformational speaker and author. Had I worked towards that? No!! I hadn’t even written it down but with this group, I actually wrote it down and realized how important it was to me. But what I also realized was I needed to start somewhere so I thought I would start with creating a blog.
Before I knew it, within NGMP, another accountability group was set up for only one purpose- writing. We were to write every day for 21 days. And so there we were on the 21st day and yours truly had written every day, and I mean every day for 21 days.
AfroBloggers Tribe
I have been blessed to be part of quite a number of Tribes. One tribe that showed up in the nick of time was AfroBloggers. Since I had just embarked on my dream of being a transformational speaker and author, creating a blog was paramount. But how do I become great at it? Enters in an amazing tribe of bloggers.
AfroBloggers is a virtual hub that promotes, educates, and celebrates African digital storytellers. Their vision is to be a platform that helps African bloggers to connect and create in an environment that is creatively enabling and inspiring. They understand the importance of representation and inclusion ,that is why they promote grassroots storytellers.
I have met the most amazing group of people in this tribe. I have been taken on a crash course on SEO. I have been promoted left, right and centre. I have been introduced to writing styles and poetry. I have even been nominated as best wellness blog in 2020 but alas, I didn’t win. I have learnt so much and grown so much in my writing because of this tribe. That is the value of being in a tribe. I am so blessed to be a tribesmate. You become more, you become better and we do it all together.
“ With one voice, we will sing Every tribe and tongue brings a harmony With one voice we will bring Heaven’s beautiful melody down to this earth As we sing to our King with one voice.”
With one voice~ Steven Curtis Chapman
Build a Tribe. Be a Tribesmate
It is amazing what we can achieve when we come together and work towards a common goal. It doesn’t matter the goal but……..
Do you have a person or persons that you are accountable to?
Do you have a tribe? Your tribe? That tribe of people who are willing to encourage you, push you to achieve that goal.
Now, remember, it’s not one-sided. Are you willing to do the same for that person or persons? We should all get into such a space. Build your tribe. For our present selves and most especially for our future selves. So that when we look back, we can look back with joy and pride on having done something worthwhile. So my lovelies, do get yourself a tribe and be active in it. Be a Tribemate. Because that’s who we are. This is me!
Let me know in the comments about your tribe!!
#ThisisMe
#BeAuthenticallyYou
#MyStoryMyBrand
Here from the Afrobloggers Tribe!
Keep writing, Patricia.
Well done
Thank you,my tribemate!!! I will indeed keep on writing as I keep on reading yours so keep on writing as well.!!!
Loved this, great post!
Thank you. I know we are in the same tribe. Cheers to be tribemates
We are Tribemates.
Yes,we are tribemates….