I love to be around people who have a common focus as myself. It stirs a passion that can not ascertained any other way. The flow of ideas that feed off each other and grow the vision. The exploration of possibilities, barriers, and potential solutions all flows freely when others have a common focus.
It isn’t that everyone has the same idea of how to do something, but it is that those with a common focus have the same overall goal in mind. When people start flowing with how they see that goal being met, it spawns creativity. It makes one think of challenges that maybe hadn’t been considered before. It makes the vision grow with possibility and expand beyond one person’s ideas.
If you don’t know people who have the same focus as you, it is worth finding them. Pert of the fun will be the search, because just because others are in the area that you are interested in, does not mean they have the same focus. I have worked with people, in the helping field, who had a totally different focus than I did, despite working with the same population. Keep searching until you find your tribe, you will know when you find them.
At the same time, I also appreciate the one who can see the goal but brings up barriers that those with the same focus might not consider. Especially if it is someone who has knowledge of the true plight of the area I am focusing. I loved working with persons experiencing homelessness, because despite having been homeless before, things change. Barriers change. Resources change. Perspectives change. Those things have to be kept in mind, because my one experience is not a voice for all experiences.
Find someone who is willing to challenge your status quo. My son is someone who will challenge for argument’s sake, much like his mother at times. My younger daughter, if she is challenging all guards have to be up because she, like her mother goes into full attack mode if she believes her side. My oldest daughter, she presents the facts, she doesn’t generally engage the argument. My husband, he avoids the challenge up to a point. You have to find the type of challenge that works for you and know that at the end of the day, that person still has your back and it isn’t going to ruin a relationship.
This blog is part of a #Write31Days series on Focus with prompts by #FMFParty. Write 31 Days is an online writing challenge, where bloggers pick one topic and write a post on that topic every day. Five Minute Fridays provides prompts and encourages writers to free write for five minutes on the prompt.
Restoring Voice 