Compliments are a complicated thing.
They can be genuine or passive-aggressive. They can feed our egos or chip away at them. They can be full of praise or rife with envy. And in a world so superficial that compliments often boil down to clicks, how can we truly receive the blessings they sometimes are in the moment?
As my work continues to travel the globe across various platforms, from photography and travel writing to fiction and other creative ventures, I have received warm and kind messages complimenting a specific work and telling me how it has touched them.
I’ve always said that the most fulfilling compliment I could get as a person is to be fully understood as kind and gracious. I do hold space and give grace. I am kind and warm, but pretty direct (cue in Virgo), so not a nice pushover.
However, one of the kindest and most insightful compliments I ever got was from someone who has been a beacon of inspiration for me within the travel industry.
Someone who continues to inspire me… Elaine Lee of U Go Girl.
One of the very first Black women actively publishing about travel and paving the way for Black women travelers with the very first anthology penned by Black women travel writers.
Now, Elaine may not remember this, but several years ago, she called me a maverick, among other heartwarming words.
“A maverick…a person who thinks and acts in an independent way, often behaving differently from the expected or usual way.”
This particular compliment has stuck with me for years because she saw who I really was through all the noise.
So I went Googling for more, stumbled across a company called Mavericks Unlimited and found their 10 Qualities of a Maverick Leader list.
1) They are true hearted & authentic
2) They believe in their own vision & ideas for the world
3) They challenge the status quo
4) They have strong convictions
5) They are courageous
6) They listen to their intuition
7) They use EQ over IQ
8) They make stuff happen
9) They enroll others to join them on their journeys
10) They use their Superpowers
In other words, Elaine was one maverick recognizing a kindred spirit in another through that compliment.
I never forgot that.
Mavericks love community, but find cliques and posturing boring.
Mavericks love sharing people’s visions but keep a strong independent voice.
Mavericks love working for the greater good but never at the ill expense and exclusion of others.
Mavericks keep on, whether they’re invited into the room or not.
Mavericks keep on, whether you’re onboard with their mission or not.
Mavericks deal with people on an individual basis and not what a clique tells them to because oftentimes, people recruit others against them out of envy or insecurity.
While I try to stay away from labels because they can put limiting boxes around dynamic people, the beauty of this one is that, by its very nature, it is boundless.
So, from one maverick to another… Thank you Elaine Lee for your work, your light, for paving the way, and for being an inspiration.