“What’s meant for you will not pass you.” - Nikki Rhodes
I’ve been thinking a lot about this sentence.
My beautiful friend Nikki said it a couple of Saturdays ago to one of the awesome rangatahi we get to hang out with for The Kindness Institute’s Atawhai programme.
She said her Nana used to say it to her and now she has passed it on to us. We were discussing auditions and sharing tips on how to survive the nerves, the pressure and the expectations we put upon ourselves. I morphed into my parents and said what they say before every thing I have ever done ever: “Just do your best - that’s all anyone can ever ask of you” and I supported it with a wee gem I’ve created myself throughout my years of no’s and putting myself out there’s: “Because your best is all you can do in that moment. If you could’ve done better in that exact moment, you would’ve. There’s no point thinking about it a week later and what you would have done, because you’re better, older and wiser a week later. Just do your best; the best you can do in that moment.”
Sometimes I think back to how I pitched some ideas to various festivals. The things I know now! Of course I didn't get in....!
Saying what’s meant for you will not pass you is essentially a variation of “what will be will be” and “what’s meant to be is meant to be.” Que sera sera, and all that. It’s ultimately saying that you’ve done all you can do and now we will just have to wait and see what happens.
I was doing a yoga and meditation practise before bed last night and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. What’s meant for you will not pass you.
I believe it. I believe with hard work, dedication, an essence of networking and a shit tonne of upskilling that if an opportunity is meant to be, it will be. It might not be easy, it might still force you to move outside your comfort zone, but it will happen. I guess because it was just supposed to?
And that maybe the opportunities we really want with all of our being and we don’t get were not meant for us. How many times have you desperately wanted something, not got it, then something better has come along afterwards? Or you look back and think ‘ugh yuck, if I was doing that gig I would have to be doing X thing that looks really shit.’
I know this has flaws. I know you could argue it with me day and night. I know it doesn’t explain some things. I know it looks like an easy way out for someone to not do any work.
But the thing that’s awesome about believing something like this is that it helps you get over the no’s super freaking quickly. And when you audition or apply for things multiple times a week I'll take what I can get thanks.
It might be today, tomorrow, next month or in eighteen years but... “what’s meant for you will not pass you.”
Thanks, Nikki xx