Keep Hope Alive

This is a subset of a talk l give at colleges and businesses and organizations.

Jessie Jackson during his Presidential campaign often said, “Keep hope alive.” We all have a vision or a dream of our perfect or ideal life. Fear, however is the enemy of hope. Without hope, that vision and the dream will die.

The continuing COVID situation in 2020 and 2021 have made many people lose hope. It has brought a great deal of chaos and unwanted change to the world. The flames of the COVID crisis are fanned by fear. Fear of getting this deadly disease, losing a loved one, unemployment, shelter in place, quarantine, working from home, home schooling, masks, social distancing, vaccine, and the possible booster have forced us all to change.

We all know the only constant in life is change, yet change is the one thing most people fear. Why? Because it is the fear of the unknown. People like stability and change disrupts stability. How is the change going to impact my life, my job, my income, my family? It is frustrating and depressing, but we will get through COVID and enjoy a positive, productive life again, if we continue to keep hope alive.

My mantra for the future is Great Achievements Comes from Great Adversity. The years since 2000 gave us more than enough great adversity. Yet dispute this adversity, we can re-evaluate, reflect and reinvent both our lives and our outlook on life.

If you are like most people, prior to COVID there was never time to re-evaluate and reflect. We would get out of bed before sun rise and jump on treadmill of life that constantly went faster and faster. By the end of the day, we go to bed too exhausted to get any real rest and get up in a few hours and start again. We weren’t living, we were existing. I know, I’ve been there.

Now amid all the chaos we are facing, I have been able to talk with several people who are using this time to look inwardly in the hope of finding a sense of calm and peace and meaning. These people have told me, “Do I even want to return to my old normal, my old job, my old habits, with all the stress and anxiety?” They want, as my good friend Gina Mazza says, to be alive with a “capital A.” There must be a better way. Maybe this is the opportunity to change. But how do we change? What do we change? And the real question - Do we really want to change?

The current state of the world has brought us to an inflection point. Some people and organizations have thrown up the hands and said why bother – I don’t see a silver lining or a light at the end of the tunnel. Fortunately, many more people believe everything happens for a reason and are grateful for the lessons they are learning and the opportunities that are being presented. Many have used this opportunity to accomplish things on their “someday list.” I wrote four books, Business Secrets for Walking on Water, Business & Professional Secrets for Avoiding Relationship Landmines, Business and Professional Secrets for Getting Unstuck and Business Secrets from the Battlefield to the Boardroom.

Bob Marley said “You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have.” We can and we must summon our inner strength to get unstuck and move forward toward the best years of our life. By keeping hope alive, staying engaged and involved, taking positive actions that cost us nothing like a simple act of kindness, compassion and participating in meaningful dialogue we will change our life and our world. We will not all agree, but we all can try to understand each other without the rage and vitriol. It just takes one moment in time by one person at a time to make our life and our world a better place. Address your fear with the knowledge there is more that unites us than divides us. I will never lose hope because I know we will make this happen.

My wish for everyone is for the future to bring you the greatest years of your life.

Contact me at LinkedIn to schedule a time to talk or book me to speak at www.frankzaccari.com