"If you stay true to yourself and true to your vision and your own values, you can power through and make an impact on modern life."
Steve Bannon
Sometimes life can be hard, it can be frustrating, disappointing, and tinged with sadness. At other times, we are happy, excited, and powering forward. We have all experienced these emotions and faced these issues in our lives at some point.
This week has been one of those weeks where, personally it has been a roller coaster, with a lot of ups and downs. Yet, one message from a person who I have the utmost respect for, from thousands of miles away made the difference. It contained the quote from Steve Bannon, and it made me think. Throughout the week, I had achieved a lot, bringing happiness to my great-niece by taking her to her prom, finishing a work project which has been in development for 2 years. (SANCTURease)
Finishing a LABRATS project which will transform the educational message for the Nuclear Testing program. Having dinner with the family and laughing, working with new people, and continuing to move forward, with a new app for Halt2Proceed.
Yet an incident which occurred at the beginning of the week, which many people had tried to resolve had taken up days of our time but unfortunately could not be resolved, had left me feeling sad and exhausted. We will not go into detail in this blog, but the whole incident was extremely frustrating and meant the week was not as excellent as we had hoped.
But taking a step back and looking at the situation, analysing the achievements from the week, looking at what I have, and I am very lucky. There are others who are not so lucky, I still have my health and our projects are making a difference to people around the world. There are people who are suffering every day, whether in physical pain or suffering mental anguish, and are worse off than I am.
The pandemic has led to operations being cancelled, in fact, a personal friend has had their operation cancelled 3 times and is still waiting. We have lost many Nuclear Veterans and their family members over the past 18 months, with another funeral next week. Another close friend is in hospital with cancer and one family member has just recovered from cancer treatment.
It is when situations occur like the one this week, that if we take the time to Halt and analyse, we realise that although it was a situation we could not resolve, we continue to move forward for the good of the cause that we share.
We all have different personalities, different opinions and this helps with healthy debates, but we must try and remember to differentiate personal opinions from business opinions. Just because we disagree on business, does not mean that we cannot remain friends and continue to work together. There is a line between the two that should not be blurred.
In a week, where infections are rising, people are still dying from COVID we must remember that for some of us, we are lucky, I know that I am, my family and friends are of great support and we know that even though it is frustrating obtaining the recognition for the Nuclear veterans in the UK, we continue to fight for them.
Please remember that despite the lows, there are always the highs, it may be something small that turns a low into a high, a telephone call or a message.
In Halt2Proceed, we talk about 'Giving a Gift'. An opportunity to make someone's day, to help them, it does not have financial, it can be time or just to chat.
Making a difference in someone’s life does not need to impact our lives as much as we think it will. I always refer to the story of a man whose friends supported him financially. One gave him £50 and the other £500. He thanked them both but appreciated the £50 more because the person who gave him the £500 had hundreds of thousands of pounds in spare cash, whereas the person who gave him £50 only had £100 spare; he had given him 50% of his spare cash.
We can all help others, through our knowledge and experience, but most importantly by listening and giving our time. Time is the most precious commodity we possess. We are all time-limited and we do not know when our time will run out.
Making time to help a colleague or even a stranger on a forum could change their world by saving them time or helping them through a problem. We all have a gift to give, no matter how small.
Encourage the exchange of gifts; everyone has a gift to give. The gift does not have to be a huge bonus or a major item. Even the smallest gift can make a big difference to the person receiving it. Next time you can give a gift, do it.
This blog is to say thank you to the person who sent me the quote, is was a small gift, but it made a big difference this week.
Halt2Proceed is now available online - https://www.motiv8andinspir8.guru/online