Several years ago, I experienced a very difficult time in my life. One that shook me to the core! I have been working through the emotions, thoughts, and scars ever since. Recently, however, as I was searching for sanity through this chaotic time, I took some time to listen to John Maxwell’s Leadership in Crisis webinar. Through it, I had some decisive moments and wrote the following thoughts. I read them every day to remind myself that I determine how I respond to hardship and even though I may not be able to change that hardship, I determine what I learn, if or how I change and how I will let that hardship affect me in the long term. I hope this gives you hope as we continue to walk through this crisis together.
TODAY, I CHOOSE!
Today, I am choosing to say, yes that happened, but it does NOT define me! I may have made mistakes, BUT I am NOT a mistake. Yes, that was horrendous when it happened, but I am not going to let that define me anymore. I am choosing to grasp life through the scars that crisis has and will give me. I am choosing to embrace the losses I have and will have and to allow those losses to ground me, to grow me, to give me inner strength. I am going to choose to muster up the courage to look to Hope again rather than just try to be an optimist. I choose to reflect on my hardships and define reality through it and choose positive change. I choose to edit and evaluate my thoughts and life to try to view things differently, as opportunities so that my actions are directed in positive directions. I choose to be intentional in life, acknowledging that anything worthwhile in life is UPHILL, know that there is always an answer and quiet my mind to hear/see those answers, and I choose to yield to adversity to allow me to discover who I really am, inside. I choose to live life in a positive stance. I choose to feed my faith and starve my fears. I acknowledge that my motions influence my emotions and I choose to master my emotions with positive motions, living mindfully today and choosing to reflect rather than react to my adversaries, to take actions to reflect before I react. And even though I don’t like that adversary is necessary to grow me as a person, as a leader, as a strong person, I acknowledge that by embracing it in the right light I can allow it to make me more relatable to others, connect with others, and develop wisdom through it. I will make myself step back and try to look at the BIG PICTURE to keep everything in perspective so my focus can change about it and I will be able to help others change their focus as well. I choose to work to embrace adversity to allow it to make me stronger as a person, to build my willpower, and strengthen my resolve. Today, I choose!