a calm in the storm : Issue No. 10 "Live or Die"

It's no surprise to anyone that things are difficult for a lot of people right now. People are losing their homes, people are financially uncertain, others are unaffected, the world is at an odd turning point. There are a lot of records being set in the financial world that are not good records to set. The future is hard to see...but that isn't any different from when things seem good. We never really know what the future holds whether we're prosperous or struggling. Today is what we know. Yesterday is what we did, today is what we do...tomorrow...well who knows about tomorrow. As a planner, that statement doesn't give me warm fuzzies...but I have to submit to it. There's a quote I heard in a movie that sums it up for me. "There are plenty of ways to die, you have to figure out a way to live...now that's hard." Now I don't mean die literally, but sometimes when the going gets tough, the easiest thing to do is give up. It's too much to process. Too overwhelming. The mountain is too steep to climb. The bills are too high. The debt's too large. There are plenty of ways to give up, the hard part is persevering through the adversity. Don't sell yourself short. Don't assume you can't do it. Adversity can create an obstacle, but it can't change the finish line. Don't try, just do it. Move forward. To try is to fail with honor...if you say you're going to try, it gives you the flexibility to stop before you reach your goal. When you say you're going to do it, you don't give yourself the option to quit. So the next time you start thinking about tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that...remember, you can't change what happened yesterday and you can't force tomorrow, so work on today. Take it one step at a time and before you know it, the finish line is in front of you. Find ways to live...it might be harder, but it will be sweeter.