Without This, There’s No Point

What’s the most important thing in your life?

Don’t think too hard – what’s the first thing that pops into your head?

Is it family?

Kids?

Career?

Art?

Philanthropy?

Social causes?

Politics?

How do you decide what is most important to you?

I want to tell you about a woman named Mumilaaq Qaqqaq.

Mumilaaq Qaqqaq was born in Baker Lake in the Nunavut territory in Canada. And in 2019, she was elected, at the age of 25, as a Member of Parliament in Ottawa.

I find her inspiring for a couple of reasons.

First, she was elected as a Member of Parliament to represent Nunavut, which is the largest riding in all of Canada. It covers an incredible expanse, with 3 time zones, and borders 2 Canadian provinces and a territory.

Plus, it presents many challenges for a new Member of Parliament, including incredible suicide rates and systemic racism.

But the main reason I find Mumilaaq Qaqqaq so inspiring is because at the end of 2020, she took a 2-month pause from her role.

She said she was struggling with depression and anxiety and she needed that time to take care of herself.

I find it remarkable that such a high-profile leader would role model taking care of oneself, above anything else.

We don’t see a lot of that.

In an interview (which you can find at a link below), she said – very simply and elegantly:

“Without us, without you, without me, there is no point.”

In other words, the key to taking care of anything – be it the children we are raising, the career that we might be pursuing, the relationships that we’re trying to build, the house we’re trying to buy – whatever it is, none of it means anything unless we take care of ourselves first.

Without this, there’s no point.

So, a gentle but profound reminder to take care of yourself, as well as those around you.

Learn more about the work we do around creating cultures of resilience at www.SolutionDevelopmentGroup.com

See the interview with Mumilaaq Qaqqaq here