“As my sufferings mounted, I soon realized that there were two ways in which I could respond to my situation — either to react with bitterness or seek to transform the suffering into a creative force. I decided to follow the latter course.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

There are so many popular MLK quotes, but I decided to choose one of his more obscure quotes for today—and obscure is definitely not synonymous with weak. He reminds us that it’s not what happens to us that matters as much as how we react. Bitterness was a choice, but he chose to transform his suffering into a creative force. And, as they say, the rest is history.

Let’s look at our own life. What does, “As my suffering mounted,” mean to you and me? What have we been suffering with or from? And with that suffering, how did we respond? Did we choose bitter, angry, resentful, or something else? Did we choose to be the victim?

Transforming the suffering into a creative force is another choice—a better choice, a more productive choice. What does this “creative force” look like for you and me? We know what it looked like for MLK, and that same choice is available to us. We only need to choose, in our mind, to make it so. That’s the first step. Suffering or creative force? It’s our choice.

Let’s GO! WE GOT THIS!

Beth

P.S. Next Tuesday, I am teaching a virtual goal setting class that will set you up for the most productive 2022. The class is $99, and it will run from 6-8pm EST on January 25th, 2022. I will share the link tomorrow! This is the one class you won’t want to miss because I won’t be teaching it again until 2023!