Memorial Day: Honoring the Fight, the Fighters and the Future

There are a few federal holidays that always cause me to pause and reflect to identify in which ways does this experience relate to me, if not directly. 

While I haven’t experienced a direct loss of a loved one in the military, my human experience and my being a black woman denote that somewhere in my lineage, I may have a related loss without knowledge. Beyond that, I have the opportunity to express empathy to those who know this experience all too well. 

As I dug deeper into the reliability of this experience, I thought about the personal memorials we often have to hold to aspects of ourselves especially as leaders or business owners. The things that are comfortable and familiar are often not the things we need in order to soar and thrive. 

This reveals itself especially in the midst of crisis and pivots. Opportunity can be looming but if you’re familiar place is pessimism or doubt, you’ll won’t see it. 

So on this Memorial Day, here is my invitation to you, business leaders and owners, to ground yourself in truth:

1. Rest. Yup. Go take a nap. Go get a massage. Turn off your phone. Stop watching the news for a second. And allow your racing mind to rest so that you reconnect with your body and your vision. 

2. Reflect. It’s the perfect time to conduct an audit of your efforts. This is important because sometimes in the midst of feeling overwhelmed with what it takes to get to where you need to go, you’ll neglect to acknowledge all that you’ve done to get yourself to this point. 

3. Ramp it up. One of the best ways to honor those who have sacrificed their life, time, energy and even honor the sacrifices you have made, is to step it up a notch. In which ever way you need to. Because the truth is, we all know when there’s more for us to be and do and if no one else, make sure you honor the person in the mirror by being and doing that. 

I’m rooting for you. And excited to see how we’ll both honor all that has been and all that will be. Happy Memorial Day.