Shelley Campbell

Balance. I turned 60 the other day, and I went to dinner with 12 people, and my youngest daughter asked me what would I change or do differently. I wish I would have listened, because you've got to have ears to hear this when it's said to you, and I'm sure it was said to me along the continuum. But balance. You don't have to do everything, it doesn't have to be done. It will be done. One of my dear friends, she's like a spiritual mother to me, she said, Shelly, you'll get in when the Lord's ready for you to get in, not a minute before. When you hear that, I was like, oh, thank you, because then that took the pressure off of me, because I'm an A personality, I'm first born, so I put a lot of pressure on myself for outcomes and everything in that nature. It gave me permission to be okay with not being okay with my expectations.

Find someone that's a couple decades older. Watch what they're doing, see if their behaviors and their beliefs mirror yours, and grab lunch with them or coffee with them once a week to mentor you. Mentoring is so important, it's so critical. And shame on us, as the gray-haired women, that we're not reaching out, finding 3 or 4 girls. That's one reason I'm doing what I'm doing. I want other women to say, well, how can I do this? Because if each one of us reached back and found two or three people to help, it would dramatically change the output of this country and change the kids. I'm really blessed. My kids have a lot of older people in their lives that can speak life over them, so I feel really blessed in that regard.

The biggest challenge in my field is that no one has any time. If you send them something, they say, oh, I haven't had time to look at that. I haven't had time. Well, you have the same 24-7 I do. It's what you choose to do with that time. There's so much time wasted sitting behind screens on their phones, or screens at dinner or whatever. Let's be present-minded, and if something's important to you, just say, you know what, I'm going to spend time on it. It's being disciplined, being obedient, being cognizant of what you're doing. Because you'll look up, and it'd be 3 o'clock, and you're like, well, I didn't get anything done today, because X, Y, and Z.

Integrity is most important to me. It encapsulates a lot - not only is it honesty, it's loyalty, it's accountability. Space and balance are also important values. The other one would be, for me that I'm working on now, is long-suffering and patience. Those are the attributes that need to be taught, but you can't teach them unless you walk through some difficult experiences. Romans 8:28, you know, when tough stuff comes to you, he'll use it for his kingdom. That's really important. I didn't grow up in a church home, but my kids were raised in the church, and it makes a big difference. It's how I get up, it's how I do business, it's who I am.