🌹Rose, Thorn & Bud🌱: Academy Leaders 2025 Edition

My 🌹= A highlight would be my eldest daughter telling her father and me her plans for the future. She is all grown up now, and she’s not my little girl anymore. It is a defining moment in a parent's journey they will never forget. When the bird leaves the nest, it is a milestone. Luckily, I still have one little birdy left to nurture.

My thorn (couldn't find the emoji for the life of me) is that I want to experience having more unconditional love and acceptance for my current situation, which is one of daily difficulties and challenges. This is particularly challenging because it is in a place completely foreign to me. I need to work on having stronger mental strength.

My🌱= I am excited to go with the 7 cups community, both in a professional capacity as well as a personal one. Finding 7 cups has helped me better navigate through the challenges I have been experiencing this past year, and honestly saving me from becoming self-destructive. Being an academy mentor has given me purpose.

At the QLP, a difficulty (the Thorn 🌵) I experienced a few months ago, was that our Mentor Leader left, and I had to take their tasks on top of mine. At the same time, a few Mentors also left for diverse reasons. And we had a peak of trainee applications. So a reduced team had to deal with an increased number of trainees, which was somewhat stressful. Then I had to interact with many Listeners to invite them to join our team and coach the new prospective mentors and mentor leaders. All of this added to my increased workload. 

The bright side (the Rose 🌹) is that some wonderful, talented and enthusiastic new Mentors joined our team. And more are about to join, as well as a ML. Also during that peak of work, a small core of our seasoned Mentors took the extra work willingly and effectively, so the quality of support to trainees was kept at excellent levels as revealed by their comments and reviews. Also by the numerous graduations. 

The prospects for this new year (the Bud 🌱) look even brighter. We will have a much strengthened Team and a new enthusiastic, clever and conscientious Mentor Leader. That will allow us to increase our enrollment while giving our trainees top-quality support from a team of talented, committed and super-kind Academy Mentors. 

@PetiteSouris

Rose -: I was able to intern at different places and make a good resume. That really made me happy and feel confident 

Thorn -: I had lost a few friends due to various reasons. 

Bud -: I think the idea of getting into a nice MBA college for now

@PetiteSouris

🌹 A Rose= I have lots of roses for 2024 as I decided to follow my dream of starting in a helping profession. Apart from starting a new career, I also started volunteering here on 7 cups and had so many rewarding experiences. Through this journey, I have found numerous opportunities for growth, learning, and direction for my future. I also completed a lot more training and professional certifications this year. And most importantly I met so many amazing souls through this journey, especially the mentors and listeners here on 7 cups showed me how to be kind, available, approachable and supportive. 

🥀  A Thorn= My thorn for 2024 would be that along with the rewarding experiences, I also faced personal challenges, financial hardships, moments of self-doubt and difficulty in taking some time off for myself. 

🌱 A Bud= For 2025, I look forward to continuing this path. I am starting to doubt myself less and trust my abilities more. I am planning to do a professional degree as well this year along with my work. This year I am going to celebrate my small wins, and I am going to intentionally create more pleasant experiences for myself instead of waiting for them. 

@PetiteSouris

Wish you also happiness, prosperity and good for the coming Year. 

Condolences on the loss of your father and hope that you can live out the dreams he had for you

A Rose= A highlight, success, or small win from 2024. This could be something positive within your Academy Program, Academy leadership role, or even in your personal life.

I guess I feel I have been progressing in my role as Mentor throughout the year.   It is a pleasure knowing that you can support and benefit others in their education and growth and by helping out through mentoring as part of the program. I was happy to recieve an appreciation card from one of my trainees, which cheered me up a lot that day and in general having people thank me and tell me that they appreciated me and have benefited from my support
has picked me up in some low moments.  Such experiences increase us in confidence, as well as motivation and give us a sense of purpose and benefit to others making us motivated to continue.

🥀  A Thorn= A challenge you encountered or an area you identified in which you need support. This could be something we want to improve upon in 2025, either as leaders or individuals.
I guess a thorn was the political situation around me and having a few big let downs that left me with some big problems for which I have had to deal with mostly by myself until now and a general lack of support.  Yet things seem to be easing, working out by themelves and with divine intervention. I had issues with lack of electricity and internet access at times but these were on and off. 
Peoples negativity around me had also held me back from things but I have realised that any problem can have a solution if you understand it enough to find the right way to deal with it. This extends to people. These problems are a lot better now. 
Most of the issues mentioned above have improved or are reaching an end.

🌱  A Bud= A new idea or opportunity which excites us. This could be an innovation that can help us grow our Academy Program, something we look forward to in 2025, or a leadership role we wish to explore.  
It is said that after the rain comes sun, and after the hard times come good.  There may have been some difficult and stressful times and maybe some set backs last year but throughout that there is hopefully a potential bud that can grow into something beautiful throughout the coming year.  A bud will blossom with the right environment when it has what it needs and we hope that with a strong and dedicated team this program will develop and flourish into its full potential.  There are many friendly, helpful and supportive people as mentors and our program ambassador is dedicated, kind and very supportive.  For this reason there is hopefully the potential for things to develop, grow and flourish and that the team will be strengthened to increase in a warm and friendly environment like friends or family. I guess I have hope that people realise the value of the program for developing listening skills on the site and in both our professional and personal lives. That is a bud we can nurture.  Hopefully, we can feel optimistic about the potential for such things and good days ahead after some previous setbacks and a stressful period.