As young women we dream, we hope, we twirl, we see a world full of hope and possibilities! As we grow older, we find some of those dreams have slipped away, some only a distant memory. We’ve traded dreams for the wear and tear of daily living. Instead of pursuing dreams, we find ourselves hoping for the snap of someone’s fingers to make things better, if we even have that hope any more. We look for the next cure, the next corner to turn . . . I’ve heard many of my friends (myself included) hope for a breakthrough. A breakthrough of what life has become about, to punching back through the wall of realizing our dreams, of something, anything better than where we’ve found ourselves.

I guess these thoughts today are more of a woman-to-woman talk, a heart-to-heart word of encouragement. In case you’ve forgotten, you do have what it takes. In case it’s been buried under words that stung, you are beautiful. In case the unexpected and sometimes dark arrows life wings at you have left you in a place where even the word “dream” feels foreign, hear me today . . . It is time to dream again, to believe. And in case your own choices have left you in a place where you never intended to be, I want you to know you are not your choices. So choose something else . . . today . . . make one new choice.

So you see sometimes there are those instant, wow, can’t believe that just happened, pinch-me moments . . . But far too often, those come after the culmination of many other, difficult choices to put one foot in front of the other. So today, if you are in the culmination moments, and not the pinch-me moments, make them count. Be purposeful about them. Choose to learn. Choose to grow. Choose to be stronger. Choose to see the sunshine. Choose to see and dream again. All those moments climbing up the mountain from the valley you’ve found yourself in will culminate into a height that you’ll never descend again. Your valley is only there when you choose to see only the valley, but if you will just make the hard choices starting today . . . Choose happy, choose good, choose dreams, choose to hope, choose to be who you are destined to be, and choose to move forward, you’ll find the valley is the floor that only made you wiser and stronger.

Today is the culmination of yesterday’s choices. What will you choose to do today that will determine your tomorrow? Choose more, because Girlfriend, you are needed and wanted! Today, You be You!

Originally published February 26, 2019*