Terri's Tuesday Tip of the Week - August 25th

You must be the change you wish to see in the world. - Mahatma Gandhi

Those who expect moments of change to be comfortable and free of conflict have not learned their history. - Joan Wallach Scott

If you want to make enemies, try to change something. - Woodrow Wilson

Last Tuesday (August 18^th) was the 95^th anniversary of the ratification of the 19^th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote.  When Tennessee passed the legislation, the United States changed forever.  

Over the weekend, I was reminded of another lady that changed the United States forever sixty-nine years (69) prior to women having the right to cast a ballot.  That person was Harriet Beecher Stowe who wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin.  The emotional story shows the effects of slavery on individuals including not only the slaves, but also their masters and traders.   

The original name of the story was “The Man That Was a Thing”, but changed to “Life Among the Lowly” when it appeared in Washington’s National Era in 40 installments over a 10 month period.  Less than a year after the whole story appeared in the newspaper, the book was published and became one of the most popular books by selling over 300,000 copies in less than a year.  In November 1852, Stowe visited the White House and upon meeting President Lincoln he said to her,

“So you are the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war.”

When Stowe original wrote to Gamaliel Bailey, which was the editor of the National Era, to tell him about her story she stated,

"I feel now that the time is come when even a woman or a child who can speak a word for freedom and humanity is bound to speak... I hope every woman who can write will not be silent."

Through the story of Harriet Beecher Stowe, I was reminded that there are many ways to be an  influence.  It does not matter what stage of life you are in you can do something that can affect one person and change the world. 

What do you have on the inside of you that can be used to change the world? 

AND what are you going to do about it? 

Every beginning is a consequence — every beginning ends some thing. - Paul Valery

Our only security is our ability to change. - John Lilly

Sources

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/jun05.html

http://www.biography.com/people/harriet-beecher-stowe-9496479#career

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Beecher_Stowe

Terri's Tuesday Tip of the Week - August 18th

When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it - but all that had gone before.-- Jacob Riis, Photographer and Journalist

Sunday I received the above quote in my email and it reminded me that daily we do things that we may not see the reasoning for or think that nothing is changing based on the outward appearance of life.  However, all it takes is one “suddenly” and things can change.  That “suddenly” can come in the form of an email, telephone call, text, etc.  

To make it through those trying times when you have very little motivation or strength to push forward, here is some great advice I heard from a motivational speaker.  Think to yourself, “I can make it for one more week” or “I can make it for 24 more hours”.  As I celebrated my birthday last week, I had to continually tell myself, “you can do this….you can make it another year…look at the awesome things that you have accomplished in your life”.  With encouragement and determination, I made it through and have moved on to doing other things. 

No matter what it looks like on the outside, keep pushing forward because the breakthrough is coming!

You make a mistake, you keep going. - Linda Gray

Never discourage anyone...who continually makes progress, no matter how slow. - Plato

If you're going through hell, keep going. - Winston Churchill

I am who I am today because of the choices I made yesterday. - Eleanor Roosevelt

Terri's Tuesday Tip of the Week - August 11th

Different than what I Thought, Better than I Imagined. – Lynette Lewis

Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle. - Napoleon Hill

No matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow. ― Maya Angelou

As many of you know, I have not been a big fan of my birthday in past years.  Last year, my sister had a life altering event a week before my birthday, which made me change my perspective.  This year, I was determined not to go down the path of “poor me” and I can assure you there have been days of fighting to keep strong, positive and not be depressed that I am not where I think I should be.  To stay positive, I have been discussing the “defining moments” of my life and how the tiniest of things can define our lives forever.  

During that original walk in downtown Austin on that hot July Sunday afternoon, I knew the post on my birthday was going to be different.  I started thinking about the last year of my life and realized it has been pretty amazing.  Here are some highlights/defining moments since my last birthday:

• Run over 1,000 miles
• Still love my job!
• Three Congressman have visited/toured BancVue
• Traveled to Washington, DC 4 times
• Spoke at a Toastmaster Conference about career advancement
• Had lunch at the Governor’s Mansion with former Governor Rick Perry
• Traveled to Switzerland and France over Christmas
• Attended the Texas Governor’s Inauguration and Ball
• Won my Toastmaster Speech Club Contest about with my speech “Victory or Death”, which was about The Alamo
• Received a marriage proposal in the St. Louis Airport…I told the gentleman Southwest was boarding his flight and he didn’t want to miss it!
• Went out with an F-15 fighter pilot a couple times…WOW!
• Was hit on by a Lt. Colonel in the Army Reserves while sitting on a bench in the Hart Senate Building in Washington, DC….still praying for that one!
• Became a resource for various individuals because of my daily political email about the 2016 race for the White House
•  Changed in ways I never thought I would, but am happy I did because I am growing and progressing on this amazing journey!

Take time to think about what you have accomplished so far on this journey we call life.  I can assure you this is not the life I expected, but it is better than I could have ever dreamed!

Life is growth. If we stop growing, technically and spiritually, we are as good as dead. - Morihei Ueshiba

And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. - Anaïs Nin

My turn shall also come: I sense the spreading of a wing. - Osip Mandelstam, The Selected Poems

We are products of our past, but we don't have to be prisoners of it. ― Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here for?