How to Make a Difference in These Turbulent Times
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One cold December evening in 2020, my then four-year-old son and I were finishing decorating our home for the holidays while "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" played on the TV in the background. Suddenly, we heard dozens of armed individuals gathering in our front yard, shouting obscenities and chanting into bullhorns in the dark of night, protesting the results of an accurate and fair election.
My new book, The Purposeful Warrior: Standing Up for What's Right When the Stakes Are High, starts with me talking about that harrowing evening and what it was like for me—as a mom and the chief election officer for Michigan—protecting my son, and our home, from the growing crowd outside. The night was a traumatic culmination of a year filled with chaos and confusion as I worked to protect Michiganders during a global pandemic and oversee a highly contentious presidential election. Still, nothing prepared me for needing to shelter in my home, protecting my family from an armed mob on our doorstep.
We all have moments of great fear, uncertainty, challenge, or loss. And yet, even in the darkest moments of those turbulent times—which so many of us find ourselves and our country to be in right now—there exists a path forward. And the light to find our path forward, one rooted in resilience, courage, and strength, can be found within us.
It starts with becoming a Purposeful Warrior.
Who Is a Purposeful Warrior?
The Purposeful Warrior is determined to be the hero of their own story. We find purpose in standing up for ourselves, the people we love, and the communities we call home.
This purpose is a focus, something small or large you'd like to change. And through challenges, tragedies, and all the uncertainties of life, fighting for that purpose can guide us to stay true to who we really are and ground ourselves in the power we all possess to define our own paths to reflect who we want to be, driven by our values and mission.
Here are three key things you can do to be a purposeful warrior today:
#1: Be Authentic and Speak Truth to Power.
However you choose to define it, you have a contribution to make with your life. It is your own, and fully unique to you. It is a mission to fulfill with your time on earth, the heart of which can be found in tying your own values, beliefs, ideals, interests or talents to the needs of those around you. Don't let anyone else use their power to define that for you. Instead, speak truth to power and hold on to your vision and faith in what you can accomplish. Because even in challenging, uncertain moments, you always retain control over what you will do next—to further your hopes, your vision, for a better world. Use it.
#2: Channel rage into action, fear into courage, and despair into grace.
It's ok to feel afraid, angry, and defeated. Those emotions can be fuel for our actions and help activate our bravery muscle. You can transform the fire that underlies pain and rage into action. But don't stop there. Combine that fire with grace and empathy. That enables us to see things from others' points of view, understand where they are coming from, and invites forgiveness when that view doesn't match ours. All of that can make it easier to dismantle our own fears or anxiety and more powerfully push forward down our own path and purpose.
#3: Grow your strength, and don't give up.
As you chart your path as a purposeful warrior, you run into resistance, headwinds designed to veer you off course and question who you are and your own strength and power. Don't let them win. Instead, see those winds and the challenges they create as an opportunity to get stronger, better, and more powerful. This helps you reflexively start to see turbulent times as an invitation, one that you can embrace, knowing you learn from it to grow stronger, more resilient, and effective on the other side.
Even in years like this one, amidst all the challenges, tragedies, and uncertainties of life, as purposeful warriors, we can forge forward on paths that further who we want to be and the impact we want to have in the world.
And then we fight to push forward on that mission every day. Even when it's difficult and the stakes are high.
Because as a purposeful warrior, you don't let the world change you.
You change the world.
So let's go.
Jocelyn Benson is Michigan’s Secretary of State and candidate for Governor. She ascended into the national spotlight in 2020 as one of the “Women from Michigan” who successfully blocked the attempt to overturn with the accurate results of the 2020 presidential election. She was subsequently featured on the cover of Time Magazine and was honored with both the JFK Profile in Courage award and the Presidential Citizens Medal. Learn more about Jocelyn at JocelynBenson.com.
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