I don’t know about you, but as this new year unfolds with incredibly new adjustments to make, sometimes it’s helpful to take a step back from the news of the day and assess not what’s happening TO you, but decide what are you doing FOR you.
You see, there are only 24 hours in a day. That is an undeniable fact. There is no alternative to this fact. Therefore, how we use those 24 hours can determine outcomes. It is never more imperative than now how we manage our energy.
As I write in my book TAP INTO YOUR JUICE, our juice is the mental, spiritual, physical and emotional energy that we have to employ to the tasks at hand to live our lives, raise our families– to find our gifts, lose our fears and build our dreams.
If we spend that time spinning about what is happening to us, then there simply is less time to plan creatively what we can do for ourselves. Yes, we have significant problems in our communities, our country and the world. They can be scary, devastating, overwhelming. But, we cannot let them be debilitating.
Today as we continue to celebrate Black History Month, “Yes We Can” can be a reverberating cry like Maya Angelou’s “And Still I Rise.” Our history can strengthen our future. We come from Kings and Queens. We’ve built civilizations, invented amazing things that have changed the world. Hidden Figures, anyone?
Today, we are seeing levels of activism that are energizing. We are seeing emphasis on our health that is empowering. We are seeing an awakening about the importance of education, economic and legal lessons that all citizens need to know about.
So, Yes We Can.
We can Agitate.
We Can Educate.
Yet, we must also Execute.
We must Get. Things. DONE. Write that book. Start that business. Go back to school. Grind for that job, for that promotion. Be sure your child gets that homework done. Get those applications in on time. Delay gratification and take responsibility for finances, obligations, exercise, respecting others, being kind.
Importantly, and I know this will sound difficult in these times, but I think we also have to stop being afraid of each other.