Diane's Diary by Diane Mueller

Be the change that you want to see in the world. ~Mohandas Gandhi



Everyone has a platform from which you can impact the world. Your platform may be smaller than that of some of the more famous people, but never discount the fact that somewhere, somehow, someone is watching you and trying to gain inspiration from you. This could be your own children, a neighbor child, someone from church, a coworker, or even a random Facebook friend. There’s just no way of knowing how far your inspiration may spread. With that in mind, try to be mindful of the actions, comments and statements you make on a daily basis. The things you say or do have the power to either inspire others, or dissuade others. As you’re reading this article you may be thinking, “I’m not interested in inspiring others. If I have something to say, I’m going to say it and if someone gets offended by the things I say, then they’re not my friend anyways.” Does that sound familiar? I think it’s pretty safe to assume that everyone has felt that way at one time or another. Even I am guilty of that from time to time. I’m not going to tell you what to do, or how to live your life. All I ask is the next time you’re all charged up about something, to take an extra minute before you post your rant on Facebook and determine if this is how you really want to represent yourself. Keep in mind that to your inner-circle of real friends understand that you are simply blowing off steam and will play along with you. However, if you’re a person who accepts random friend requests from people that you don’t know outside of cyber-world, please consider their feelings before you post that rant.


I was never as humbled as I was today when I saw the comments that came flooding in after a post I made on Facebook. I was feeling especially happy about life, and decided to share that happiness with all of my friends on Facebook. My status read, “God gives us little obstacles and challenges in life which cause us to struggle to try to overcome. The beauty and brilliance in these challenges is how wonderful and optimistic we feel when we have persevered and come out victorious in the end!!” It wasn’t the most grammatically correct comment I could have made, but that’s what was in my heart at the time and that’s what I chose to share. This was a comment that seems to have really struck a chord with people, as the outpouring of pride and appreciation was evident. Not only comments on the post itself, but emails and text messages were sent from friends thanking me for being so positive and giving them the kind words they needed to hear to help them to carry on. It was a nice reminder for me to be considerate of the feelings of ALL my Facebook friends, not just the friends that I know personally and those who are closest to me. It was also a pleasant reminder of how a great day can become an even better day, simply by sharing inspiration and helping to talk a friend through a rough time in life.


Every one of us has the ability to help others on their journey through life. Every one of us has a platform from which we are able to reach out to others and lend that helping hand when they need it the most. Those of you, who have been through the hardest of times, the darkest of hours, or the most challenging of obstacles, you are the people who have the greatest opportunity to help someone else find the light at the end of their tunnel. Always pay your good fortune forward. You were given an inner strength that allowed you to persevere, overcome, and to become victorious. Despite that incredible determination that you have inside of you, you also had people who helped to encourage you, somewhere along the way. Sometimes these people present themselves in a loving and helpful manner, while other times, the help that you needed was disguised as someone negative who motivated you by telling you that you couldn’t accomplish your goal. Every person responds to adversity in a different way, and every person needs to be motivated in a different way. You were given EXACTLY what you needed, when you needed it. If you needed a loving hand; that is what you were given. If you needed someone to try to knock you down to force you to pick yourself back up; that is what you were given. You survived incredible odds. Use your experiences to help others. Pay your fortunes forward. Be the change that you want to see in the world!!


Until next time,
Live, Laugh, Love and LIFT HEAVY!!
Diane

As always, a special thank you to my sponsors: 911Strong.com and Big Rig Supplements. I am honored to be a part of two such wonderful teams.