Founder’s Note: Welcome to the middle

You may probably be wondering why I’d say welcome to the middle when this is my first founder’s note - and we're just beginning.

You’re probably wondering why welcome to the middle is the title of my first  founder’s note. Considering we just launched, “Welcome to the beginning” may seem like a more appropriate title I’m sure.

However, those who have been on this journey with me may feel that the word “finally” may be the truest reflection of where we are today. For me on the other hand, it feels like we’ve just made it to that awkward middle.

Let me explain

The birth of a new baby can be accompanied by this feeling of relief. Because for most, the parenting journey becomes a tangible experience when the baby arrives.

Over the last few years, I’ve been challenged to think differently about the process. In a sense, the beginning for me was when I first started thinking about the possibility of birthing BGB – the consideration phase was the seed stage.

It’s that part of the journey when you’re not completely sure if you’re ready to commit to the process of building because when you consider all your other responsibilities, it doesn’t seem like you even have the capacity to carry the weight of the concept to full term. But, you just feel called to it.

At that point, you’re not even sure if you should get a partner to do it with but the urge keeps growing and then one day you just send the dreaded email to someone who can help. Subject line: I have an idea, can you get on a call?

And, you regret it almost immediately because you know, this concept is bigger than you – bigger than both your capabilities and resources.

Conception

Once you take the step conceive, it’s not long before you’re struck by the realisation that you’ve now “actually started”.

It’s scary because now it’s no longer just a dream. You’ve convinced another person to be all in with you and let’s be honest, you have no idea what you will do once the baby arrives.

You water and nurture your seed, with hopes that you don’t lose it prematurely and the sad part is most of us do – some of our dreams don’t make it past the first trimester. In those times, we are challenged.

We start to question if really we were are meant to birth that idea. We wonder if we are capable, we blame ourselves, we blame God and we blame others; but at this point, we either have to let it go and not try again or we grieve the death of our earlier expectations and get back up to try again.

Safe to say, I have many dreams that didn’t make it.

Then comes the day when your dream is birthed.

You look back and realise that your dream refused for you to give up on it, especially during the times when you went through a season of quiet quitting. Those seasons you thought, “maybe I could just give it to someone else, someone who actually has what it to takes to carry this seed through”.

Let’s admit it, in the building stage we go through many periods of doubting if we’ll ever birth the damn thing. I’ve regretted ever telling people about it because they would constantly ask about it, they would ask about the progress and the process. In the end, you realise that the role of having accountability is what pulls you through the carrying stage.

Then “finally” you birth it and immediately realise you’re now in that awkward middle.

You have no idea how to keep it alive. You have no idea what it will turn into. You don’t know if you should be a tough love or a gentle kind of parent but now you can’t give it back. You’re in it and the only way out is on the other end of how it turns out.

So, my fellow BGB’ers, welcome to the middle.

The awkward middle where I don’t know how BGB will turn out, but I know it was meant to be birthed. I’m a big believer in how I was brought up, being parented by a whole community. My hope is that there are BGB’ers out there who can look at this little infant and be moved to be part of the parenting journey with me – especially those who have done this before. All I know is that the mission is big and to some, it will look impossible and we will look insane but I believe in this little baby.