I Never Meant To Be A Mentor

 Mentor is a little word with a lot of weight.

It is defined as: A wise and trusted counselor or teacher, an influential senior sponsor or supporter.


That's a lot of pressure!!  It's a responsibility.

We all wear a lot of labels in our lives and some of those thrust us into the position of mentor whether we mean to be there or not.

For a part of my life, I was almost intentional in a way about not being a mentor.  I wanted to be about me.  I didn't want to deal with the idea that someone else would be potentially watching me and in turn intentionally following my example.

Life kept going though, because that's what time does, and my labels changed.  I became mom, special needs mom, home school mom, public school mom, foster mom, friend, writer and so on.  In a way all these labels lend themselves to mentoring, whether that is your intent or not.  Life just sort of puts you in that position.

I still don't like the label of mentor or the responsibility of it all.  Just hearing someone use the word mentor with me makes me bristle.

But, I do understand.

If I could modify the definition to be a trusted supporter, I think I could find a way to be OK with it.

I think with my fellow foster moms, I'm not a mentor, but a been there, done something like that, stand by you and face the crazy.  With my friends, it's more of a, I love you so I'll stand with you in your storms and rejoicing.

I never feel that confidence that I should be a "mentor".  I don't think that much of myself.  I'm just like everyone else, making their way through this life.  I'm just like you.