YOU are Your Greatest Limiter
Starting Anonymous Angels has been such a rewarding endeavour! The support that this group has received is more than I ever could have imagined. Anonymous Angels started out of my basement; just a few friends making friendship bracelets together as we hung out and chatted. Then I would send home a few bracelets for my friends to make in their spare time. Then one day, one of my friends saw a girl in her class making friendship bracelets, and asked her if she volunteered for Anonymous Angels. The girl said no, that her and her roommates just made them for fun. My friend told her classmate about Anonymous Angels and next thing you know - her and her friends started making bracelets for Anonymous Angels!
Anonymous Angels operated behind the scenes for a year and a half before officially launching. While part of that for sure was because I was figuring out logistics, and narrowing down what I really wanted this group to be - the other big reason was that I was scared. I was scared to create this public platform and forever be “outting” myself to every person who viewed this page or who connected with me. I was scared to talk about my experiences publicly, when I haven’t even told most of my family what exactly happened. I was scared that Anonymous Angels wouldn’t accomplish its purpose - to reach survivors and touch people along the way of their healing journey. Because I was consumed with worry about how Anonymous Angels would be perceived by the public, I put off launching it….. Until one day I took the plunge and I just did it. I was still scared - I knew me making the first post on social meant I would have to make a second and a third. I still had all the same doubts, don’t get me wrong.
Five months have gone by since I made the first post and seeing how far Anonymous Angels has come in such a short period of time truly is amazing. We now have almost 75 volunteers spanning all across Alberta, British Columbia, and even into the states. I never could have imagined that and I truly feel so grateful for all the amazing people I have been able to connect with as a result of Anonymous Angels. We have gained multiple partnerships and are looking to expand our operations (again - never could have anticipated this). I still have my doubts that I have to work hard to not let get the best of me. But if I have learnt one thing through this journey it’s this: Your greatest limiter is YOU. While undoubtedly, not everyone is going to support you; lots of people will. It takes a lot of hard work to get to where you want to go, but it starts with a leap of faith.