Written by Edgar Luna

Some time ago as I was going through some struggles and looking for answers on how to approach life and find a meaning on why I was here in this world. I started to read and research quite a bit on it. Among the different recommendations I researched, I was drawn by one that got me thinking quite a bit.

The advice was to find a “Mentor“.

A “Mentor” is a person who can support, advise and guide you. They typically take the time to get to know you and the challenges you’re facing and then use their understanding and personal experience to help you improve.

As I read that I bought into it and visualized a “Mentor” as a person that had everything figured out. That person that you might see in a movie that regardless of what challenge he or she faced, that person resolved the issue with ease and class.

I constructed a person in my mind and was hopeful that this individual was someone that might help me navigate through challenges in life. I accepted that recommendation and started to think:

Who do I know that has all these qualities, that might be able and willing to share their wisdom and to help me navigate through this world?

So as I searched for this “Mentor“, I found that it was a very difficult task. Trying to find that one individual that had most of their life figured out was very difficult.

As I looked around to the people I knew and analyzed who might meet these requirements, my concept of a “Mentor” was not met. In my mind I did not know anyone like that. So I started to look outside of my circle and tried to see if I could find that person in the environment that I was living in .

The more time I spent trying to find a “Mentor” to help me out, the more frustrated I felt. I was feeling unsuccessful and luckily bumped into a good friend and had some coffee. We talked and I shared with that person that I felt a “Mentor” would help me however I was having difficulty to find that individual.

As that friend listened to me and said :

You have “Mentors” all around you, people that are successful in different parts of life .

As I heard those words it opened my eyes and started thinking that I was too focused on a “Mentor” being one person that has all the qualities I was searching for, when I had many people around me that could offer advice or help on different areas of life.

As that information sank into my brain I started to make sense of it and thinking of people very close to me that were very successful in certain areas of their life. Some of them in business, love, faith, relationships and many other things.

And as I started to see that every person has talents and strengths in certain areas I also started to see everyone I met as a “Mentor” no matter the age, I made it a habit to always try to learn something from them. Always looking on what they did well and how I could learn from them or learning from their mistakes and not taking any of what they shared for granted.

I share this because it’s something that really opened my eyes and helped me tremendously.

“Mentors” are all around us, we just need to be humble and willing to learn from them by taking time to get to know people and allow them to share their passions in life.

These “Mentors” could be that two year old that shows you that its ok to be silly and have fun as a kid, to that older person that has lived through so many experiences and we might not give them the time to share, both of these and anyone in between, can provide jewels of knowledge that might help you navigate through life.

E.Luna