Tag: inspirational writers

Embrace Your Life’s Shifts

As we enter April, consider reflecting on your first 90 days of this year and give thanks for your life’s shifts – especially those that are helping you become a better version of yourself. 

Just as winter shifts to spring in stages (more cold days before warmer ones consistently take hold); 

and babies do practice runs (more wobbling before finally walking and toddling); 

and tides cross a shore at their own pace (gently rolling onto a beach one wave at a time), 

our human shifts are often gradual, and sometimes formidable. Yet if you look closely, you’ll also find that they are meaningfully worth it.

Consider how this process has unfolded (or is unfolding) in various areas of your life.

Give yourself kudos for not giving up, and for being further along than you thought possible. If necessary, challenge yourself to get up, get unstuck and grow. 

Your future self will thank you.

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How My Other Passion Reinforces the Power of One

One of my intentions this year is to bring my whole self to every role I embody, because all of Stacy shows up as the fiction writer, the nonfiction inspirational writer, the strategic communications professional, the mom, sister, auntie, friend and community volunteer.

With that in mind, while I will primarily continue to post in this space about my inspirational musings, my novel-in-progress and other author-related news, I’ll also be sharing occasionally about another endeavor that’s close to my heart: an opportunity to advocate for children and foster communications for a greater good.

I’m excited to share that I have joined the global nonprofit organization Children International (aka CI) as the Global Director of External Communications.

(To those who’ve inquired, yes – I’ll still be based in and involved in the Richmond, Virginia community, and I will continue my creative writing and occasional writer coaching.)

Here’s to those of us who are multi-passionate! Writing remains my foundation, and I’m grateful for this and other opportunities to evolve, grow and experience where it leads.

Traveling to Colombia with Colleagues

My most recent adventure led me to Colombia. It is one of 10 countries (including the U.S.), where Children International is serving youths and young adults who exist in dire poverty and need hope to believe their lives can get better, along with tangible help to make it so. Eight colleagues and I traveled there from the U.S. in mid-February, to meet with some of those we serve and with our Colombian counterparts who are leading operations.

Since words won’t suffice, I hope the few images I’ve shared here (plus more you can find on my Facebook page), convey in some small way, the mutual joy felt by all of us to connect as members of the CI family.

These young people repeatedly offered thanks for consistent educational support, access to health care, life skills exposure, and positive role models who pour into them, when the lure of gangs, giving up on life, and other ills threaten to pull them off track.

They expressed how much it has meant to exchange letters with people who have sponsored them with monthly contributions since ages 3, 4 or 5.

They described how the opportunity to receive Children International scholarships that fund job training has allowed them to dream.

Before we departed, one of the teenagers thanked us for our work by declaring: “You are a grain of sand that helps us have better lives.”

I left their presence knowing they are more than their circumstances. They are eager to learn, grow and be the first generation to help their families thrive.

On one of our final nights dining together as a team, a Colombian CI colleague took us to La Cueva, a restaurant famous for serving as home base for the city of Barranquilla’s renowned journalists, authors and artists. Unbeknownst to her, one of the waiters for the night — a 20-something aspiring writer — had once been a sponsored child through Children International. When he saw the organization’s name on our group reservation, he proudly introduced himself as an alum.

Seeing him working in an esteemed establishment while continuing school and nurturing his creative goals made our collective day. It was a welcome reminder that our choices to go the distance with others can give them breathing space to find their way.

I left Colombia all the more convinced that it takes just one person to impact a life. By changing the narrative for one, we are rewriting the story for many.

To learn more about Children International, visit children.org.

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Grieving During the Holidays

Let’s talk about grief.

I posted the message below eight years ago today, right after my sister Pat’s passing.

As I head into my late mother’s birthday tomorrow, and the 1st anniversary of my brother’s Dec. 20 passing,

and hold in my heart friends and loved ones who are grappling with loss during the holidays, I find it important to share these words again-

to remind you that grief is a necessary part of life and to love yourself through it.

Please read on, then doing something kind for yourself today.

I’m completing some writing projects this morning,

getting a massage this afternoon, and

spending time with friends this evening.

Sending a virtual hug to all who need it and encouraging you to cherish good memories.

Inspired by this Life Untapped blog post? Please subscribe to receive more of Stacy’s occasional musings – and share the link to this post with others in your circle.

Celebrating Women’s Stories

On this Throwback Thursday I’ll take you back to October 2014, when I hosted my inaugural Celebrating the Power of Women’s Stories inspirational brunch with friends at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden: https://tinyurl.com/celebratingwomensstories

I share it at this time to enjoy and be inspired (or inspired again!), while also asking you to SAVE THE DATE for the second time around!

Yes – eight years later, it will happen again – same place, same time, on OCTOBER 22, 2022 from 10 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

I will be sharing more details in another month or so about the amazing speakers and other participants, and I’m honored that I’ll be partnering with them to bring you their inspiring personal stories and more. In the meantime, please mark your calendar and spread the word!

Pursuits of Passion

A message I watched on YouTube this week reminded me that just because we’re pursuing our passion doesn’t mean we’ll coast. In fact, living out our passion often requires sacrifice, late nights, elbow grease, and fits and starts. But because we love it, it’s worth it, right? 

The story I’m writing these days is kinda like that – it requires digging deep, sitting in silence, answering the hard questions and embracing the authentic answers. 

Yep, I’m talking about the novel I’m penning, but real life, too. For isn’t this how it’s supposed to work? Fiction is a reflection of life that’s meant to help you better understand yourself, and others. I’m excited to be in this “creating magic” phase. 

You’re the Light This World Needs

There has always been a light within you. Now’s the time to really let it shine.

Shine where you are.

Shine as you are.

Shine because you are.

Whatever mistakes or flaws you’ve obsessed over, today let them be. Celebrate them for helping shape you into you. Allow them to help you grow stronger, wiser, more resilient, more insightful.

Choose to truly see yourself and love yourself, so that you can authentically lavish the gift of that grace on others.

Where to start and how to start?

By looking within and acknowledging the flicker that is your passion and your purpose. By embracing it and not looking back. So that as your light grows stronger and more vibrant, everyone you encounter will have a chance to slowly, and surely, react in kind, in their own unique ways.

Regardless of whether you get to see or experience the impact of your steady light, trust that its existence is not for naught, and that every place and every person touched by your words, actions and being have caught and carried some of that shine. – Stacy Hawkins Adams

Gifts from Beyond – Thank You, Chadwick Boseman

I awoke this morning reflecting again on the headlines surrounding the recent passing of renowned and beloved actor Chadwick Boseman and the powerful (and much needed) gifts he has given us, even in his passing, in this year that will be one for the history books.Here are my Wednesday Wisdom takeaways:


* Just because you don’t show it on social media or share it beyond your circle doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. There’s a certain blessing in enjoying some gifts off the world’s stage. 

* It’s worth it to keep fighting for your dream even when it’s hard. You’ll treasure reaching your goals while gifting the world with your purpose along the way.

* We get to decide what it means to live with integrity and die with honor. These words sound so lofty, but take true courage, humility, grit and authenticity to achieve. Deciding to live in this way is the only power we possess in a world that’s out of our control. What will your choice be?


* Cherish everyone and everything that matter to you, everyday; because as you fill others’ wells with love, it can’t help but reverberate back to you. 

Actor Chadwick Boseman

Today, Just Say Yes

Do something today that reminds you of life’s goodness.

Dance like no one’s watching.

Perform a random act of kindness.

Tell those you care about how much you love them.

Laugh with others and at yourself. 

Spend time embracing what makes you smile.

Say yes to one or two baby steps that move you closer to the vision in your heart. 

Don’t have a vision? Say yes, then, to discovering what one could be, by spending more time with your thoughts and treasuring yourself for being the gem you are. 

As Michelle Obama declares in her Becoming documentary on Netflix, there’s no “going back” to what our lives were yesterday. Our task – and opportunity – is to create a meaningful (and exciting) next chapter that allows us to evolve, impact others and enjoy ourselves along the way. 

Be Encouraged & Endure

Over the past two weeks several friends that I hold dear have lost loved ones to the coronavirus. My heart goes out to Helena, Robert, Pam, Gwen and Teresa. And also to other friends whose relatives are fighting to recover or to live.


While I pray for them and the millions who are suffering in some way due to this virus, I also pray for those of us whose impact has thus far been limited to having to shelter in place and sacrifice our norm. For let’s be real: This right here isn’t normal.

There’s the surrealness of it all. In may ways, it feels like we’re living out a sci-fi movie.

There’s the surrender required during it all. This is when the best place to be is at the center of the storm, wrapped in the Almighty’s embrace, due to what we can’t control.

And certainly, there’s the shifting of it all. Those of us who survive will come out of this indefinite period of disruption changed, no matter what.


If we’re intentional, perhaps this era will leave us wiser, more gracious, more authentically ourselves and more focused, connected and settled – ready to live our purpose or lean into discovering the next phase of our life’s unique calling. And many will be like my friends – forever touched by the losses this difficult season has wrought, fighting to forge ahead.


Wherever you land on this spectrum, be gentle with yourself, yet determined not to let this time of shutdown be a blur.


This doesn’t mean you must write that book, build a new business or “boss up” in some other way, although if you’re up to it, you can. What this season does offer is a chance to do the deep work to polish the gem your life already is.


Be courageous and love more deeply – yourself first, so you can truly love your neighbor.Look within and be real about the state of your soul. If you’re good, remain steady and firm and pour out from that full well. If you’re shaky, use this time to brutally self-examine, forgive yourself and others, and do whatever else it takes to transform into a person you’re proud of and gracious toward. We all have room to grow.


Challenge yourself to avoid self-numbing to the point of missing the lessons you’re meant to learn or the blessing you’re meant to be to others.
Be okay with everything not being okay. And even so, still find a way to live, love and laugh your way through as much of this as you can.


That’s what the doctor’s and nurses on the front lines are doing with the dances and songs they’re flooding social media with, between their calls to loved ones of dying patients.That’s what so-called “ordinary” people around this nation and globe are doing as they find time to help a neighbor or stranger, or celebrate someone’s birthday while social distancing or make an extra phone call to say hello, or share a meal or buy someone’s groceries. That’s what every essential worker is doing every time he or she leaves home to do a job that could be putting him or her at risk; and every teleworker who is pouring into others online, via email and on calls, keeping systems in place and processes moving forward.


I heard on the news (which I watch sparingly) today that social distancing and sheltering in place is slowly but surely making an impact. Certainly, we’re not out of harm’s way. There are more waves of valley moments seemingly ahead. But what this proves is that the one thing we CAN control during this time is our choices.


Choose to continue being a ripple in the proverbial ocean. Your sacrifices and prayers, virtual hugs and words of encouragement, dollars and donations, and other acts of kindness, are making a difference.
For those who are grieving, we grieve with you.For those who have something to celebrate (birthdays, anniversaries, new babies, end of cancer treatments) we celebrate with you.For those who are struggling, we see you and are helping however we can. If you feel unseen or unheard, don’t go it alone. Reach out to a friend or relative or even a stranger; for right now, we’re all family.


For those who took time to read all of this, please receive my virtual hug and smile. Know that I am praying for you, and for our world.


Also hug yourself and think about things that make you smile. Cry if you must; curse if that helps. Then, rise up and resolve to push through. Let your faith edge out the fear, and conquer the battle for your mind and your sense of hope.


Embrace this sober wisdom that my late mother shared with me in our last conversation in 2005: “Sometimes you have to lose to gain.”
We don’t know when, we don’t know how, but If we’ll endure through this night, morning will come, beauty will replace ashes, and hope and healthiness will reign through the land once again.

~ Stacy Hawkins Adams©

Sing (and Dance) Anyway

I came across this senior year of college pic of myself recently and I’ve kept it on my nightstand for an occasional chuckle. ss

Yes, my pants are too big ( I was really petite back then and did my best! 😂) and yes, I remember where I was – in a friend’s dorm room, enjoying a surprise party thrown for me.

I look like I’m singing cause I was. But can I really sing? Sadly not.
I had fun trying, though, with whatever that song was and with a little Salt n Pepa, too.)

I look like I was acting silly cause I was. And guess what?
Beneath my sometimes reserved, often inspirational and occasionally feisty demeanor lies a girl who is still fun at heart and able to laugh at myself and with others.

I was 21 in this pic and considered grown. (Ha!)
What I’d tell that young girl from my now full-fledged adult state is actually what I exemplify in this photo: to always find joy in the small moments and sing (and dance) through the rest.

That girl didn’t always get it right and neither do I; but both versions of me have been, and remain, grateful for love, laughter, grace, life lessons and the journey itself – gifts that never age or go out of style.

I challenge you to dig up a few of your own funny pics from the past and reflect on your treasured (or silly) moments from yesterday. May you be inspired to embrace new dreams, cut yourself and others some slack, and create more meaningful memories.

– Stacy Hawkins Adams