Do you ever just feel like giving up? Do you ever feel that you are NOT enough no matter what you do? Do you struggle with trying to do the right thing while others beat you down? Does it seem that your voice have been silenced and you cannot defend yourself? WE ALL DO! Life is so hard sometimes. People we love hurt and betray us. Strangers attack us. Crisis comes our way. We face disappointment and sorrow. It is during these times that we can actually grow the most. That sounds crazy, but is so true. We must first understand that we cannot change anyone. We often have NO control in the midst of the storm. All we can do is look within ourselves to truly see what we CAN do better. Facing ourselves is not an easy task. We want to blame others sometimes. OR...we want to excuse our actions and choices because we have been hurt, accused of something we did not do, or many times it is very painful to own our part. Believe me, I understand! We are all on this journey we call life. The hardest thing to face is ourselves. There are so many times that we can justify why we feel the way we feel. I say today...we are allowed to feel. It is what we do with those feelings that molds who we are...who we become. I challenge you today to say to yourself...I cannot change anyone else. Even when others are wrong and hurt us. Even when we think there is no way out. Even when we cannot see past our current circumstance. We CAN grow. The ONLY way to silence our critics is to succeed. The way to succeed is to get up, take one step at a time, and believe in ourselves. Self doubt, shame, and guilt have no place in success. In order to succeed we must take ownership of our STUFF with an attitude of growth. We can then begin to grow. This acceptance leads to the next step...forgiving ourselves. We often forget to do that! Then we tighten our boot straps and we come up with a solution to help us grow and separate from the chaos. Rising above it all is easier said than done. However IT IS POSSIBLE. AND we must not forget that we are human. Showing ourselves love and grace. Don't give up. Grab hold of HOPE. It is scary to think that we often do NOT grab hold of hope because we expect the worse to happen. Expect great things to happen. It all starts within... Others will hurt and disappoint us. They too are on this journey. What they make a choice to do is on them. What we make a choice to do today will affect our tomorrow. Even how we choose to allow others to affect us. Remember that the free will of choice is powerful.
I encourage you to set your eyes on where you want to be in 1 year...3 years...5 years. Who you need to be in the future to obtain your goals is not who you are today. AND remember that conflict demands change.