You're Not Good Enough

I can relate to being told “you’re just not that good.”

When I was in college, my main graphic design instructor told me I just wasn't cut out for graphic design. She told me that I should work at a place like Glamour Shots where I can touch-up photos. I realize now that her comment was meant to be a putdown, however, she was so negative, and I was so eager for a positive direction that, strangely enough I took it as a compliment and thought, “well, at least she thinks I’m good at one thing.”

I was one of eight students, in that upper class, who graduated in graphic design. I was the only woman in our class who pursued it as a career after graduation, and, sadly, I was the student who ranked at the bottom of the instructor's class. She did not believe I could make it in graphic design, and I almost believed her. And then I went to Dallas.

I found out that not everyone agreed with my instructor. As Senior students, we were required to attended the Dallas Job Fair in Dallas, TX. I was terrified to show my portfolio to experienced employers of design companies. She had me convinced that my work would be rejected at every table, and I was prepared. What I was not prepared for were the 3 job offers and all the encouragement that I got from people who knew the business. I came home unstoppable.

My instructor's negative comments never mattered again to me. They only resurface in times like today when I see a very young Lindsey Sterling, a renowned violinist today, being told how terrible she plays by the 'professionals.' There is one other time that my instructor's words resurfaced. It was the day that I was getting onto an elevator at the very same time that my old instructor was exiting with her newest group of students. She and I were attending the same Dallas Job Fair. I was now a Graphic Design Instructor leading my own nervous students to do interviews with professionals. The shock on her face was priceless. Not only had I made a career of graphic design, but I was coaching my students to victory in the Local and State competitions which would eventually lead us to participate at the national level. Oh how the Lord works in mysterious ways.

Lindsey Sterling is a hundred times greater than her critics. Watching her young self perform so hard only to be torn down by the 'professionals' has been a great reminder to me:

Never let someone else decide what you will be great at. Few people can see your purpose until you’re standing in it. Turn your eyes off of "them" and onto the only One who can show you the way you should go, and GO YOU SHALL. And maybe one day you'll step off of an elevator and realize that your God is greater than anyone's limited opinion about who you are or what you are capable of.

-Shauna

"The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?" Psalm 118:6