Skip to main content

My Journey with Heather

She was one of my first friends 15 years ago when I first came to Toronto. She was my mentor for over seven years and our friendship grew over the years. In 2009, we went our separate ways (life tends to do those things with friends…)

Many years later (I think it was 2 and half years ago), she sent me an email asking if we could meet. I immediately said yes, and we met.

“Something in me said, call Patrick” she told me when we met.

 I was glad that the ‘something” had made us meet again. We were about to start a new journey together.

During our meeting, she told me she had decided to leave her long-time corporate job so that she could follow her dream which was to mentor young women who had experienced abuse in their lives. I thought it was a noble cause

Over the next months, we met several times and I got a chance to help her set up a Not for Profit Organization called “Mirror Mirror Mentoring”. She was pretty excited about the opportunity of being able to make a change in young women’s lives.

I have to tell you, there was some crying involved in our meetings. She was experiencing some hardships and there were moments she couldn’t understand what was happening to her. I tried my best to inspire her the best I could, and it seemed to work. Do you know why? Because I was also going through some tough times (but I didn’t tell her lol). We were in the same boat.

Her organization was set up, but she kept telling me that she was feeling that something was missing. I then, gave her some books to read and movies to watch (maybe she could be inspired and know what could be her next steps). One book made a huge difference for her. It was Bruce Wilkinson’s “Secrets of the Vine” (this book changed my life).

Later, she came back to me with some plans. She had decided to go back to work so that she could fund her dream (so she thought). She secured an amazing position with a good pay and an opportunity to drive a band new luxurious car (when I saw the car, I was blown away).

Life was great again for her (so she thought)

Months later, we met again, and she told me that she felt there was something missing (again lol). We talked a bit and she told me that she knew what she wanted to do then. She was called to go to Jamaica and do some work there. She even had decided to go there on vacation months later.

So, she went

When she came back, she KNEW that Jamaica was the place to be. She then quit her job.

Troubles came back in hurry….I won’t tell you the details, but she faced real tough challenges.

After so many delays (a real school in patience and trust), she finally flew to Jamaica. I witnessed her departure as I went to pick her up at 4.30 am to give her a ride to the airport. I was so excited for her. She was like Santiago in Paulo Coelho’s book “The Alchemist”.

What she didn’t know was that the toughest challenges were about to begin. No kidding…

Four months later, she just came back to Toronto. I met her last week. She has REALLY changed. She lost tons of weight…

There was some crying involved when I heard her story. This time, it was me crying…

Stay tune. I will share her amazing Jamaican story in my next blog (I am now putting you in the school of patience and trust.)

Trust me; her story will really inspire you.

See you then next week

Moral of the story?

Do you want to live your dreams, just fly to Jamaica and there will be some crying involved

Always a pleasure

Patrick
The Journeyman




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Journey to my wedding

Where do I start? I don't really know. As I am waiting for my flight at Kigali airport, with tears in my eyes, I am thinking about the last few days. There are no words that can explain what I have experienced in this month of December 2010. As Phil Collins said, it's another day in paradise. The person who said that words are powerful was so right. It took a few words from my then girlfriend, now wife (are you kidding me!!!!), to start a series of events that led me to this moment. She just said: “Honey, this long distance thing is killing me”. Having been in a couple of long distance relationships, I knew what she meant. This time, it was different. I had to do something, otherwise, this relationship would end up like the other ones. I had promised myself to do whatever it took to make this one work. As I hung up the phone, I thought I had to move mountains. I had to find a way to meet her. Originally, my intention was to visit her in July 2011, however, this felt like a cent
5 comments
Read more

My Journey to Orillia

We drove a little bit late at night. I had been to this place called Orillia before, but it was about ten years ago. I didn’t remember much about it, other than it was beautiful. Here we were on the road, and there was not much we could see, except a signal on the highway that said “beware of cattle”. We thought it was funny.   By the time we arrived at the hotel, it was almost midnight. I went straight to bed. We had to wake up early in the morning as breakfast was scheduled to be served a six O’clock. There was no way I was going to miss out.‎ You may be wondering what was happening in Orillia. I am glad you asked. A number of months ago, Paul, my business partner, got this brilliant idea, and once he shared it with me I was totally on board. He realized that for us to do what we wanted to do, we must work with partners. These may be service providers, or simply other business owners with goals similar to ours. Paul decided to go out and attend different networkin
1 comment
Read more

My Journey back to Writing

I wanted to do it Michael Jordan’s way when he sent a two-word fax to  the Chicago Tribune in 1995 and say “I am back”. Some of you are thinking “what is a fax?” Yes, I am back (for the pleasure of the one in Malaysia) I am out of retirement now. I can’t believe the last time I sent a blog was in November 2015!! Time really flies Many of you (yes, including you in Malaysia) have requested, sometimes insisting that I come back. The truth is that I have never left. I was still writing, but I haven’t published anything yet. The difference is that I have been writing about some serious stuff, with a strict tone. I missed writing “my way”, without being afraid of grammatical errors or misspelling words. I am back home. I can sit and relax So, what made me back to the Journeyman? (Please don’t ask me why I left in the first place). A couple of things. First, there is my friend Chris who asked me if I could help out conducting a series of workshops on Saturdays f
2 comments
Read more