Every now and then, you get caught up in your own melodrama and your situation seems so magnified that you react. Sometimes the reaction is not positive. I had one of those moments at the end of last week.

I am in transition and so I am facing many challenges. I went to get career counseling because I felt I needed some guidance and wanted a better understanding of ways to create opportunities to get into speaking and develop my voice. I left that meeting feeling unsure of myself, which is something I rarely experience. I penned these words a few days after the encounter:

Dear Opportunity:

I have been looking for you for a very long time.

I’ve been told that if I can only meet you, things would be different. Once you see what I can bring, we could grow.

I think we had several appointments, but then your evil cousin circumstance cut me off while on my journey. He put many obstacles in my way that took time to overcome, and by the time I made it though, you had departed. I wished I could have met you.

I want to believe you will come around again. I am working and preparing, just in case.

The naysayers told me you don’t like to come into my neck of the woods. They said you only hang around the privileged and those who work through politics. They told me that even if I begged you would not come for me. I have waited so long and I am wondering if they really know. I am beginning to hate that I see some truth in that notion.

Will you ever come by here?

I will leave the light on.

It is not right or wrong to feel a certain way, and I do own my feelings. However, I am glad that there are other people in the world with other stories to give a different perspective. That person for me at the moment is Danny Green.

For those who do not know, Danny Green is a professional basketball player who is currently competing for a championship as a member of the San Antonio Spurs. His journey to get to this point is what is so admirable. He was cut from that same team twice before. He has played overseas in Slovenia and in the NBA’s D-league, and now is playing so well that he is being considered for MVP of the NBA finals.

I cannot help but love the fight in this man. Becoming a player in the NBA had to be a dream come true, but then he was cut. He could have let that stop him, but he didn’t. He must have had days when he wondered if he should continue, and felt the things I expressed in my writing piece. He kept practicing, and trying, and working because that is what you must do to set yourself up for success. I know this, but I am grateful for the reminder.

I will keep writing my speeches, and searching for engagements, and developing my voice because one day I will get a chance to prove that I can make a difference. Until then, I will pull for people like Danny Green. I will let his desire to triumph fuel my own, and will prepare to make the most an any opportunity, as he has. I will because I must. Your life is speaking Danny, and I am listening.