Take creative, positive actions now to accomplish your goals and dreams in the years to come
Infuse your life with action. Don’t wait for it to happen. Make it happen. Make your own future. Make your own hope. Make your own love. And whatever your beliefs, honor your creator, not by passively waiting for grace to come down from upon high, but by doing what you can to make grace happen… Yourself, right now, right down here on Earth. Bradley Whitford
The Holidays were about to kick into high gear when we received the news. My husband was about to be laid off — -again. We just spent the last quarter of the year recovering from the last layoff. Our bills were finally being paid on time and plans were made for gifts. I received the call in the early morning as I was about to make breakfast. The new administration was coming in at my husband’s government job and changes were taking effect. He tried to reassure me that we would be up and running in no time. Staring into space, I put the phone down and proceeded with breakfast. It is kind of hard to go forward with unleashing the best you in a situation like this, but the survivor in me refused to back down.
The last two years were crippling on almost every front. Illness, job loss, financial crisis, all of theses problems assaulted us since 2014. Yet, my small family is mobilizing and looking forward to a new year and Era. How is this possible in the face of so many setbacks? It is possible because we live, individually and as a family, with our face to the sun. We wake up everyday with the intention of unleashing the best within each of us. It is important for us to keep contributing in positive no matter the situation. Our situation might be mercurial, but there are those who are in worse situations. We are grateful and privileged to live in America even amidst the many conundrums inherent in our society.
My husband is a cancer survivor, our daughter is home-schooled because of bullying and I recently learned of my potential for a rare disease. Yet, we are not phased by any of these burdensome problems. We wake up everyday pushing forward to make our dreams come through. As an immigrant, my dream and goal is to make it as a published author and motivational speaker; my husband’s goal is to get off the corporate wheel to work as a full time musician; my 17 year old daughter’s dream is to recover from her health problems and to publish her comic characters and designs. We have no time to worry about a job loss that is already behind us our eyes are already fixed on the next obstacle to be conquered.
As we look around there is much consternation about the new administration and their plans. However, we are not focusing on their plans because our plans are more important. There is not much to be done regarding the situation on the macro level. We are focused on what to do at the micro level. As a family, we believe that if we are going to affect change the the only way to do so is by unleashing the best that is within us. There is no time to waste worrying about what is already done. It is time to go about the job of doing what needs to be done.
“Infuse your life with action. Don’t wait for it to happen.” The above quote is a good opening salvo as we enter the new year and new Era. Do not spend your time looking outward and fretting about a landscape that is already primed for planting. Focus your energy inward on what you can do in your small micro-world to make things better. Go out there and till your life-scape in the shape you desire and require for your own forward momentum. There is no time to waste. The moment is now. The days are moving faster than ever, loved ones are leaving, transitions are taking place whether we like them or not. In the face of all this uncertain change it is time to unleash the best you.
What is your plan for the coming year and Era? Are you going to unleash the best you? My motto in life? No means NEXT and I am already busy NEXT-ING. Just like Bradley Whitfield says in the above quote, it is time to get busy making your “own future” and making “your own hope”. Let’s all work from where we stand in our daily lives to contribute to making things better. There is no better time than a new Era to make that determined change.
NEXT.
Excerpt from Cheryl’s new work in progress, “Standing in the Light: My Personal Journey Through the Darkness.” A survival story about faith, spiritual fortitude and personal redemption.
Originally published at medium.com