Broken crayons can still colour

THE saying “broken crayons can still colour” is a metaphor that reminds us that even when we are broken, flawed or facing challenges we can still create something beautiful and meaningful.

Imagine a real crayon that is broken, it can still leave its beautiful mark on a piece of paper.

In your brokenness, you can still rise above the shadows to contribute to the world to make a positive impact even when you feel imperfect.

Your worth is not defined by your flaws or setbacks, but by your resilience, creativity and unique gifts that you bring to the world.

The idea of broken crayons still colouring resonates with people of all ages. It speaks to the inherent potential within each and every one of us regardless of our perceived flaws or imperfections.

Our experiences though negative can still shape whom we become and contribute to the richness of our lives. You have the power to overcome adversity and keep moving forward.

Organisational status

One of the challenges in many organisations is that of having teams that feel defeated before they even begin to tackle a challenge. The defeat probably comes from the feeling of being a useless broken colour.

This may be because some employees would have tried different jobs where they would have left because of incompetence.

In most cases, incompetence come along with negative talk, withholding of benefits where applicable, negative report and poor appraisal just to mention a few.

If incompetence happens three or more times someone may feel like a failure.

The next time the same person finds a job he or she may have a defeated attitude.

For this reason, a good number of employees do not have a winning attitude; the moment they feel like the task is hard is probably the same instant they feel like letting go without being bothered. This is so because they are used to hearing criticism and negative talk.

The environment we live in is so fluid that things change very fast and it is not easy to cope with the business demands.

I believe that each and every one of us has come through pain in one way or the other either directly or indirectly. Some of us have come through challenges that left the society pointing fingers at us, naming, judging, blaming or condemning us.

I remember listening to Dr Nigel Chanakira after he lost Kingdom Bank. He went through what he had never anticipated. The recovery process was not easy, but guess what, today he is leaving his beautiful marks again after having been broken. He is a broken crayon that is still colouring in such a way that attracts and impacts many people positively.

I would like to let someone know that whatever you may go through in life, you are not the first and you will not be the last hence do not take challenges too negatively. It is sad that others get to the extent of committing suicide because of challenges.

I would like to challenge every reader of this article to learn to embrace other people who will be going through different challenges instead of judging them.

If you are not sure how to help someone the least that you can probably do is to show empathy. I would like to share a few quotes from some of the world’s successful people who went through different kinds of pain, but, still managed to leave a mark that many of us look up to.

Bryant Macgill once said, “Your suffering needs to be respected. Don’t try to ignore the hurt because it is real. Just let the hurt soften you instead of hardening you. Let the hurt open you instead of closing you. Let the hurt send you looking for those who will accept you instead of hiding from those who reject you.”

Maya Angelou once said. “You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. Please remember that your difficulties do not define you. They simply strengthen your abilities to overcome.”

Maya Angelou once said. “Each and every one of us lived through some devastation . . . we must say I understand. I understand how you feel because I have been there myself. We must support once another because each one of us is more alike than we are unalike.”

◆ Rutendo Gwatidzo is the managing consultant at The HUB HR Consultancy

as a culture and change management specialist. She is a multi-award winning leader, consultant, speaker and coach. Rutendo is also an author of “Born to Fight and Breaking the Silence”. Feedback:0714575805/ winningstrategy.2020@gmail.com/ Rutendo Gwatidzo_Official fb public page