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As you prepare for a new year, I hope you might add some asset building on to your list.
I hope this is the year that you engage youth either more often, better than in years of the past, or even begin for the first time.
The Asset mind set is not just about being nice, but framing things more positive when possible and helping youth acquire the skills, experiences and traits they need to become successful adults.
No one lives a perfect life, but sometimes all you need to do is lend an ear, or insert some hope into someone’s day, to make things just a little easier to bear.
As adults, we can recall a time when life just seemed pretty crummy. Perhaps there was a parent that was ill, a job that fell through or a relationship that ended, that added the weight to the shoulders, which was just the beginning of a heavy load.
Wow, have times changed from when we adults were young and how much can change so quickly. It doesn’t matter if you are 30, 50, or 70, what you do know is that day, that week, that month, or that year is now just a blip, on the computer screen of life.
So what can you do? I can offer you tons of ideas, there are tons of handouts, emails, text messages or books I can let you borrow.
The thing is I can lead you to Assets, but I can’t make you build.
So what I ask is that you think of just one thing you can do in the life of youth, or even just one youth to assist.
Then commit for a period of time, a month, until spring break or better yet, until school gets out. Then see what you can do.
Tell me if you have sensed a change, tell me if it has made you a better person, and tell me if you feel it has made a difference.
I’ll bet it just might and even if you aren’t sure, isn’t it at least worth a try?
If you have no youth to interact with, but you want to make a difference, buy a bag of individually wrapped candies and drop them, off at the Los Alamos Small Business Center, the Chamber of Commerce or if you know me, even my house. We will use it to let youth know someone is thinking of them, even in a small way.
If you think that seems too simple, I’m here to tell you that it isn’t.
For it is the small things that keep the boat floating during those crummy days.
Assets In Action is sponsored by the LACDC and the JJAB.