Provoking Your Greatness - Misti Burmeister

Walking down the streets of Bethesda more than a decade ago, hearing the loud beeps of impatient drivers, and seeing a pedestrian nearly get run over, I thought to myself, “I’ve gotta get out of here. I don’t want to be like these people.”   I had quit my job a week prior, unaware of my financial situation when I resigned, and as a result had $37 to my name.  I was filled with anxiety, desperate to find a sense of belonging and wondering how I would pay my rent in a couple of weeks.   It was soon after that moment of despair when I heard these words for the first time: you become like the people you spend the most time with.  At the time, that someone was pretty much just me. And spending time with me was exhausting.   Nervously roaming from one coffee shop to the next, talking up the people at the gym, and rushing from one informational interview to the next (150 in six months), I prayed for an invitation.   “Someone please invite me to your home, hire me, or at least sit with me for a while,” I pleaded to t