Lessons We Can Learn From Martin Luther King Jr. This New Year

Martin Luther King Jr. was a leader in his own making. His speeches have been heard around the world, impacting all of those who have listened to them. Where we now find inspiration, began when one man chose to speak against the popularity of his time by sharing what he believed in. His words are now truths that we can take hold of and apply to our everyday lives carrying on his legacy and impacting the world around us.

Know Your Why

Knowing your why has to do with purpose. Without purpose, we will lose direction in life and often come to places where we feel stagnant, lost, and even anxious. Everyone is designed to live life with purpose. It’s what keeps us going and provides us with a sense of achievement. It’s also what brings about change. Martin Luther King Jr. had a purpose and that was ultimately to create a better world for all people to live in. Every time he spoke he shared with that purpose and intention in mind and it was ‘purpose’ that kept him at it even when others came against him.

Be Involved With People

Martin Luther King Jr. may have been the one getting up to do all the speeches but he wasn’t alone in his efforts. He rallied people to be a part of the change and without them, that change would never have happened. They say it takes a village and that saying is true. To achieve things that are greater than ourselves we need a community of people to do it alongside us in whatever capacity they are able to. We all play a part in this big, wide world but without everyone playing their part the fruition of what we are able to achieve will become obsolete.

Face Your Fears

This is a challenge for many of us. We all deal with some level of fear especially if we are pursuing something new, outside of our comfort zone or not within the usual realms of our skill levels and it’s often in those places where we will find the greatest changes. Change is almost always preceded by risk and it is the risk that causes all of those fears to pop up their ugly heads but unless we face those fears we are less likely to see what’s on the other side. Martin Luther King Jr. must have faced fears every time he got up to speak. He knew that not everyone would agree with what he was saying or that there was potential for misunderstanding, but he didn’t let that get in the way of what he was setting out to do. He faced his fears and because of it we are better off today.

Keep Going

Don’t give up. We’ve all heard it at some point in our lives. Life is never without its challenges and sometimes those challenges can feel so overwhelming that we want to do nothing more than to give up but if that was always our response to tough situations we would find ourselves doing very little in life. Growth would diminish in our lives and we could even find ourselves no longer pursuing anything because an attitude of always giving up would lead to an attitude of why bother. The mental and physical effects of this could eventually become debilitating and no question, depressing.

Even if all we do is move one step forward that is at least something. To have an attitude that says ‘keep going’ leads to a life of discovery and in turn results in a life that is thriving. It doesn’t omit the challenges but in time it learns that the challenges are simply doors to something new and often something better.

Dream

‘I Had A Dream’ is one of the most inspirational speeches given by Martin Luther King Jr. of which we still quote and are inspired to live by to this day. It was his dream that started him on his course and kept him going even when the odds were against him. He had a vision for the future that he believed was worth fighting for. Our own dreams can inspire us and set us on a path that can lead us to places we had never imagined. They motivate us. Stir passion inside of us and cause us to try new things. Whether big or small they can alter the course of our steps if we pursue them and even if what we discover is not what we thought we are always left with something greater than when we first started.

There are so many lessons that we can learn from Martin Luther King Jr. From the speeches he gave, to the life he lived, through the testimonies of those he impacted, we are left with a long list of lessons that we can still apply to our lives today. What are you inspired by and how can you implement that inspiration in your own life?