When Mitzi Perdue married Frank Perdue, the chicken king, she brought with her years and years of experience being immersed in a family business that was wildly successful. Mitzi’s father co-founded the Sheraton Hotel brand and built that business from one hotel to 400 by the time he passed away. Mitzi has also built incredible success for herself throughout her life, and with that success comes a lot of wisdom on overcoming challenges, building resilience, and leading your own life. Now, in a different season of her life, Mitzi has made it her goal to bring global awareness to the voiceless victims of human trafficking.
Dedicate Yourself to a Purpose
According to the UN, 40 million people are in trafficking globally. Bringing awareness to that number is the first step in seeing solutions. Much like every dark place that exists in this world- and in our lives- the way we expel darkness is through light. The way we repel hate is through love. The way we overcome is through awareness followed by action. Asking yourself, “What can I do?” will change the way you approach goals, challenges, and even your purpose in life.
My point is this: Challenges in life become easier when we are overcoming them for a higher purpose. And speaking of purpose- resilience is often born out of your purpose or calling in life. How we develop resilience in ourselves is that we challenge ourselves- and not only face the challenges, but we go into them with great enthusiasm. Flipping problems into goals or new directions in life is a hack that will change your life!
Awareness is Always the First Step
The start of any change in someone’s life begins with awareness. You are in charge- and being aware of this is the first step towards a PIVOT! It’s easy to just live life instead of leading it- especially when we are facing down fear, our own ego, or unknowns- but taking the lead in our own lives is how we get to living the life we want.
Awareness + Action = Resilience
Once we are aware of a challenge or direction in life, by asking ourselves a very simple question, we can begin to take action and build up resilience. “What can I do?” Think about a challenge you are facing and ask yourself this. Jot your answers down on a piece of paper and think about each, put awareness on each answer, and see where it takes you. The awareness alone will change how you feel about this challenge, and from there you are free to take the lead in your own life. Today is your day to be you, to seek your purpose, to find your higher calling, to grow MORE LOVE.
More on Problem Flipping
For every challenge in your life, there is an opportunity to flip your problem into a pathway. It is often true in life that the challenges we face show up to push us in the direction we need to grow.
Not everyone could take on the challenges and face the horrors that go along with human trafficking. The mindset Mitzi has adopted is not to constantly go into the dark truths of the situation, but to continuously ask, “What can we do?” Rather than going down that path of what helplessness or learned helplessness looks like- the opposite of that is resilience to me.
“If I find my energy flagging or my commitment lessening, I’ll start thinking about the other people whose lives can be improved. I try hard not to dwell on how awful it is. Instead, I want to get my energy from thinking that there are things that we can do to help, save, or change people’s lives.” -Mitzi Perdue
Bridging the Gap
I want to leave you with this to think about today- if you know there’s something you aren’t good at in life, but this is something you need- something that can add value to your life- why not try to get good at it? Turn a deficit into an asset.
Frank Perdue, according to Mitzi, was a shy country boy who somehow managed to become a marketing icon. But to her, this was no mystery, because she saw firsthand how he worked to fill those deficits with action. We are always looking to the super-successful for their secrets and hacks and tricks- we want to know, “How do I get to have what you have? How do I build something like what you’ve built?” And this right here is so often overlooked. It takes work, it takes self-awareness, it takes diving into a deeper purpose, and it takes a consistent effort of you asking, “What can I do now? And what can I do now?” The secrets of life aren’t so secret if we’re willing to love ourselves enough, to be honest with ourselves.
???? I want to take my own moment to honor the fact that there are countless women, men, and children who have been trafficked, and people’s lives that have been devastated. As you are reading this, I ask that you send a prayer to the families and hold something in your heart for the people impacted by this devastation.
