$95 and a small suitcase….
That’s what my husband and I had when we arrived at the New York Kennedy airport on February 9, 1990.
We wanted a new beginning and let noting stand in our way.
Do you ever think you don’t have enough? Do you ever give up before you even start?
Today I hope to impress upon you to give it your all and know that you can do it.
Don’t let your past rule your future
It doesn’t matter where you come from. We came from Romania, a small and beautiful country in Eastern Europe, where communism ruled all our lives.
It doesn’t matter what education you have. We had (and still have) only a high school education.
It definitely doesn’t matter if you have money or not. We only had $95 in our pocket and a small suitcase for both of us.
All that matters is your willingness to do what it takes to achieve your goals.
Our “why”
Every New Year’s Day, a lot of us come up with resolutions, new goals and dreams of doing better. Then a few weeks into the new year we forget these new decisions and goals.
Let me share a bit of the “why” behind our journey. We lived in communist Romania. While it was a beautiful country, Romania didn’t have the religious liberty we wanted. We are Seventh Day Adventist Christians, and at the time, the schools and work operated 6 days a week.
I didn’t go to school on Saturday, and had lots of trouble because of it. Some day I’ll share my story. I didn’t work on Saturday either, and almost lost my job.
We had just welcomed our first child and I didn’t want him to have to go through the same struggles we went through. We wanted to give him the opportunities we didn’t have. So we left all we knew, our families, our jobs, our home, and even our young child to forge a way ahead to a better life.
Was it hard? You bet it was! We had days when the pain of being separated from our son was unbearable. We had door after door close in our faces, but we pushed through.
Today we’re living the American dream. We own our home (and a few investments too), we both work for ourselves, and we have the freedom we craved when we were young.
How to have a new beginning
- it starts in your brain: decide you want it bad enough
- map out how you’ll achieve it
- find an accountability partner
- enlist support from family and friends
- push through the unsuccessful moments
- celebrate the small victories, not only the big ones
- share your experience and encourage others to have their own
I hope you’re going for it! Whatever new beginning you want, don’t just dream it: go do it!
And when you’ve accomplished it, please come back and share your journey here in the comments! I’ll be here to cheer you on 😉