I know it has been a couple of weeks since my last post, I have been in a lull of life.  My time as an alderman for the City of Assumption has come to an end, sadly.  Since my schedule has been freed up a bit, I have been taking some time off from other projects.  What I have discovered is that, left to my own thoughts, I can get pretty negative.  I have found myself worrying about how we are going to make all of this happen.  I have focused on the negative information and “no’s”…and, I need to snap out of it!

I have to remind myself how far we have come as a community.  We have dozens of people working together to make positive change.  It is so easy to get discouraged and to lose sight of the bigger picture.  Personalities clash, choices are hard, but, we all need to keep moving forward for the betterment of our town.  We just need to do the next right thing.

If this sounds like a pep talk, it is, for myself.  We all have our highs and lows, and I need to remember that big changes do not happen over night.  We have big, expensive, long term goals in the works, and I need to focus on the fact that my cohorts are achieving impactful goals every day.  Our town has had several new events for our youth, a new yard of the month program has started, an old building is being remodeled.  We have a city wide potluck this weekend, and new gardens being planned.  People are talking about what businesses they want to open, not just see in town, ones that they personally want to open!  Businesses that will bring a lot of people to our town, and in turn, those people will be able to support the businesses that are already here.  Things are happening!  It has been barely six months since we began this planning process as a community, and people have stepped up to the plate and gotten to work!

I challenge you to look at what you say about your town, what you think about your town.  If it is negative, you are spreading that feeling…if it is positive, you spread that too.  Why not think positively, focus on the good that is happening.  It will give those doing the work a boost and it may inspire you to lend a hand.  The support and positivity that is spreading in my little town is what pushes me to keep going.  I hear a negative comment, and it does bother me, but I have to remember, that is the kind of thinking that got us to where we are.  Only positive thinking is going to get us where we want to go.  Now, it’s time to get back to work…

All artwork can be found on my Pinterest page at https://www.pinterest.com/cjwilliams/atown/…not all links work to give credit where credit is due!