Has anyone ever encouraged you? If so, do you remember how
it felt to you when they did that?
Just one encouraging phrase can literally change a person’s life!
If you ask a successful person what the one main thing was that helped them, they would say that someone believed in them.
Just one encouraging phrase can literally change a person’s life!
If you ask a successful person what the one main thing was that helped them, they would say that someone believed in them.
I always had the desire to be a mental health counselor but my grades in
high school were average to below average. Point blank- I did not think that I could
ever go to college. I did not think that I was smart enough. I did not take the
college track in high school and I barely graduated.
A couple years after I graduated from high school, I met a man who would change my life. He was a little older than me and I met him at a country barn dance one night while I was
listening to music with my mother.
He flattered my mother and called us sisters. He told us to "Bubble up" and to laugh and then he asked me out on a date. On our first date, he asked me what I wanted to do in my life. I told him that I wanted to go to college and be a counselor - but that I was not smart enough.
He flattered my mother and called us sisters. He told us to "Bubble up" and to laugh and then he asked me out on a date. On our first date, he asked me what I wanted to do in my life. I told him that I wanted to go to college and be a counselor - but that I was not smart enough.
He did not even know me. We had just met at the end of a
dance as I was walking out to leave. I had drove separate to meet him at a rodeo for our first date
and it was the beginning of our date. But his words back to me have resonated with
me for the remainder of my life.
He told me that I WAS smart enough to attend college.
Months later, he took me to a bank to help me get a student loan and then he drove me to a Jr. college hours away and helped me register as a college student!
His words of encouragement changed the course of my life.
Months later, he took me to a bank to help me get a student loan and then he drove me to a Jr. college hours away and helped me register as a college student!
His words of encouragement changed the course of my life.
I now have the privilege to provide mental health counseling to inmates who are incarcerated. (That was my dream. I majored in Corrections in Jr. college). I use every opportunity that I can to tell
them that they are not a product of their mistakes and that they can change their
life for the better.
Many inmates have told me that no one else has ever told them the words that I have spoken to them......... that they are valuable, capable, and deserving of a full and productive life- even after grave mistakes.
Be that someone who changes the course of someone’s life!!!!!!!!!!
Many inmates have told me that no one else has ever told them the words that I have spoken to them......... that they are valuable, capable, and deserving of a full and productive life- even after grave mistakes.
Be that someone who changes the course of someone’s life!!!!!!!!!!
I
tried to track down the man that I dated decades ago to share with him that I
turned my AS/ Jr. college degree into a BA and then an MA and fulfilled my dream…(and now I am a PhD student!) and it all
started with his words of encouragement. When I googled his name, I found his
obituary. He had recently passed away and I found this picture of him in a tribute
on his memorial page. I cried for 3 days and nights straight because I was not able to thank him.
In loving memory of J. Echterling
I want to encourage you to ENCOURAGE OTHERS and to THANK those who have encouraged you.
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