Many of us have been through hard times as children and maybe have seen and experienced things that we’re ashamed to admit. Guilt, fear, anger, confusion, and anxiety are all bundled into some memories of our past.

The road ahead is long and unknown. We don’t know if we have days, weeks, years, or decades left in our lives. There’s no way to know.

Earlier this week, I read “Our Pandemic Summer” by Ed Yong in The Atlantic. My family and I have 11 more days until the shelter in-home order by our governor may be lifted. Some states have extended their quarantine orders due to the Coronavirus, while some others are shortening them and even opening beaches (though there are still tens of thousands of COVID-19 cases in their state). It’s a wild, wild world.

People from all around the world are trying to figure out when stores and businesses will re-open and how life will get back to normal. Unfortunately, at the time I’m writing this, a vaccine for the Coronavirus is estimated to be 12-18 months away.

In Yong’s article, he mentioned James Stockdale, who spent years in a prison camp in Vietnam. He was tortured more than a dozen times, but he survived. When asked how he survived, he said, “This is what I learned from those years in the prison camp, where all those constraints just were oppressive. You must never confuse, on the one hand, the need for absolute, unwavering faith that you can prevail despite those constraints with, on the other hand, the need for the discipline to begin by confronting the brutal facts, whatever they are. We’re not getting out of here by Christmas.”

Stockdale’s secret to survival is a powerful one.

We must never give up hope that we will succeed, but we must also be realistic and understand that there are limitations and restrictions that we must suffer through.

Stockdale’s powerful message can help us through the Coronavirus as all we have are questions and uncertainty.

But we do have each other.

Like our childhood growing up in an alcoholic/dysfunctional family, we prevailed. But the scars that we bear might be limiting us in our relationships today. We might be repeating the patterns of the past or are self-limiting our potential.

The constraints of the abuse (verbal, psychological, emotional, or physical) we suffered hold us back from our full potential.

When you go about your day today, think about Stockdale’s advice as you go about your life. We can see ourselves as prisoners and limited by others, a virus, or another outside force. Or worse, we might limit ourselves because we don’t believe in ourselves.

Imagine what life would be like if we took the risk to dream big.

If we believed we would be free, and then we also accepted the reality of our current situation. The bridge to the future means planting the seeds of hope today and then tending to the dirt every day.

Plant your seeds today. Tend that hope with water, sunlight, and love.

Build your future today and envision your goal.

Day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, and second by second.

Like what you’ve read? Be sure to check out my other posts in my Let Go and Be Free blog.