Daily Inspiration: “It is what it is – until you make it into what it is isn’t!”

“It is what it is – until you make it into what it isn’t!” – Futurist Jim Carroll

“It is what it is.” This seems to be one of the phrases we have adopted in the pandemic, the others being “it could be worse,” “it will be better one day soon,” we just need to keep doing what we’ve been doing” and “let’s just get through it.” Among many other similar phrases – we seem to seek personal motivation by muttering to our inner selves, knowing that constant hopeful reinforcement is critical to getting through, one day at a time.

But in a larger context outside of the pandemic, this is the type of phrase which is often indicative of a creativity ditch, an imagination deficit, an idea shortage. When we come to accept the status quo, we set ourselves up for inaction. At the moment we established that we aren’t moving from where we are, we solidify our position to the current reality in the face of relentless change. It’s precisely when we decide to stand on a platform of indifference that the foundation of our future will begin to shift.

“It is what it is” is when you think about it, an absolutely defeatist phrase, steeped in the consciousness of complacency. It signals to our inner selves that we don’t need to change, that we can continue standing still, that we can adapt to a lack of progress as success. And this is when our future will truly begin to go off the rails because it will continue to rush at us with speed, while we stand determined to resist its advance – because we have convinced ourselves otherwise.

Often, it is what is – until you make the conscious decisions to turn it into what it is not. Once you do that, things begin to change.

And within the ongoing acceleration that is Omicron, it means continuing to keep a mindset focused on getting through the day, aligning to tomorrow, keeping a mindset of optimism, and doing the small things that matter – because, in the larger context, it’s the small things that matter that then become the big things that count!