Hope - when the plan changes.

For those of you who seek to have purpose in your day to day, maintain passion for the sweat equity you are investing each minute, and ache to leave an impact on this world for generations coming up the ranks - you are my people! I see you in my peripheral and cheer you on as we zip and zoom on our personal paths. I want to see you own the unique value of your journey! I get so excited because I know how creative our Creator is, and to see that manifest in you thrills my heartstrings.

As equally as I am encouraging and enthusiastic because that first paragraph may have been a bit much for some, I also realize that we live in the real world. You and I have seasons in life that don't feel so good - and frankly, they can knock our face right into the dirt. This is the game changing moment we can choose to remain on the ground and fixate on our losses. We can count all the ways things use to be or we can choose to gain strength as we choose to learn to stand and walk again throughout that experience. Regardless, the real world is what it is - challenging!

So how do we navigate our jobs, family responsibilities, and our extra curriculars while holding onto hope when it feels like our world is caving in? When the sanity feels like it is dwindling in waves, how do you hold onto the threads that are left that guide us forward? How do we find some semblance of productive motion in the minutes that seem to feel like hours as our bodies and brains manage the weight of ten elephants?

First, I cannot stress this enough: pause.

There is beauty in standing still. Not long, but just enough to gain awareness of what is around us, has remained the same, is still changing, and no longer exists. Awareness both internal and external can bring clarity and allow strategic, efficient change to take place.

Second, I would encourage you to explore your social sphere.

Take note of those we believe to be the ones who'll be there for us. Be warned that those are not always the ones best equipped for the change in our season. They were the best in the previous, but as things change, there may be a shift in your inner and extended social space. These are the ones who'll be speaking into your life as you stand up and step forward. Choose wisely and with compassion.

Third, never underestimate the power of an extra set of trusted eyes.

There is a difference between those you keep in your personal social sphere and those who's primary vested interest is to see you grow. As a resiliency communicator, my primary professional goal for both individual strategy sessions as well as my hybrid model, micro groups is about you gaining clarity, knowledge expansion, option generation, and authentic encouragement for your unique path. It is my business to step into your perspective, understand as much as possible about your goals, and support your growth as you navigate the path forward cognitively, emotionally, and spiritually.

Change will happen. The path will look unkept, if not completely untraveled. Yet the assurance of hope is that we are not alone. When the plan changes, we maintain hope by staying true to the original design. We stand firm in the truth of this broken world and own the unique reason we were created. By seeing God in motion and then tapping into our part of the relationship, we are not only making an impact on this world and generations to come - we are making moves with an eternal perspective.

www.crystalmcfadden.com