Maintaining optimism

Strength and more strength to be optimistic

You will wonder, what do you do to stay with a positive attitude and move forward even traveling through the most difficult road that you have had to live. The stories are obvious when I go out into the street and see those faces radiating hope everywhere. Some families continue to do what they always do to make ends meet, while others have totally changed their perspective.

The story of my family marks a before and after the crisis and that surprisingly helped us to progress and to be more self-reliant.

My husband and I had formal jobs with which we could cover all our needs, we even had enough savings for emergencies. That was a great blessing in facing such a difficult economic crisis.

Losing your job was the first challenge we faced and perhaps the most difficult of our lives. So many years working in the same company gave us the security of a comfortable life, but we never imagined that this happiness would end overnight. Finding ourselves fired and without other employment options filled us with uncertainty, I will never forget that feeling.

But what I thought was a calamity turned into opportunities to learn and develop new skills. Our prayers were that first step in keeping us optimistic about the future that awaited us.

In this way, we transmit our hope to our children who, despite the situation, were happy in their innocence. We certainly knew that all our efforts were well worth setting an example for them. We could not allow ourselves to immerse our children in a climate of worry that could disturb their peace.

Priceless opportunities

The truth is that we started looking for learning opportunities and even decided to enroll in college, even though we both managed to get college degrees. But this was not the only action we decided to take to maintain our optimism. On the contrary, our efforts were increasing every time to find ways to earn income.

One day we decided to enter the internet and digitization environment, so we learned to look for freelance jobs and discovered that there was a world of opportunities for us. In this way we focus on learning a specific skill and as we move forward we begin to see the hand of the Lord.

More challenges ahead

Once again we ask ourselves how to remain optimistic if after so much sacrifice of learning we could lose everything due to lack of good computer equipment and internet service.

We had a small computer and internet service from a public company that was increasingly deficient. Again the uncertainty seized us, But this time we remembered all the blessings that we had received so far and that this was just another test that we had to overcome.

The truth is that we began to save and eliminate some expenses to be able to acquire the equipment we needed. Until we manage to buy a computer with which we develop our work daily.

Although this was a great relief to us, we continued with the challenge of internet service. But we have confidence in our heavenly father and his power to help us.

We do not stop doing our work due to lack of internet, because we always solve the situation by looking for ways to get internet. We work from a square or at friends’ houses, but for us the important thing is to strive to improve every day. 

Looking back, the change has certainly been wonderful. Although I miss my previous job, I cannot describe the joy I feel in the opportunities to learn new skills and that they are the means of income for my family. All this has happened in less than 5 years and even though we are not that young, we have understood the importance of being prepared for any difficulty.

Without a doubt, Venezuelans who have experienced this same situation are people who have become more resilient and have found their divine potential.

We are optimistic and happy

They wonder if we are happy, well we are. In the midst of so many difficulties, the Lord has provided a way to improve our situation and has given us the strength to move forward.

All that time of learning and sacrifice was worth it, because our children have learned to remain optimistic despite the situation. I feel like we are teaching the correct principles of hard work and education. That will keep you focused on what is truly important to your future.

Best of all, as spouses we have created a very strong alliance that is hard to break. Our confidence has grown in an incredible way and we feel that together we can achieve great things, because we are developing our divine potential.

We are sure that the Lord took that path to get to where we are: to travel a difficult path together and to value our strengths.

Hope tips

We certainly had to put our faith to the test, to see the miracles from heaven and we learned that we can be optimistic in the midst of adverse situations. We learned that the value of family is greater than any circumstance and that together great things can be achieved.

Some lessons that other families can apply to overcome their challenges in Venezuela and be more optimistic:

1.Stay together. This is the best advice to remain optimistic, while your family is united working in the same direction, everyone can contribute solutions that benefit them.

2. Increase your faith. In the midst of difficulties, we were able to learn to increase our faith, to see the hand of God in our lives, and not be a victim of feelings of unease.

3. Live in harmony. Adverse situations may create a difficult climate within the home. But we realized that this did not bring good feelings, so we decided to improve our treatment of others and thus foster better relationships.

4.  Seek new learning. Whether you and your spouse have a profession, it is important to find new ways to generate income and this is only achieved when you develop more skills. So we bear witness that learning helped us to experience new ways of working.

5. Serve others. Certainly, there are people in more difficult situations than ours, for this reason, we have had the opportunity to serve and give to the poor and needy on various occasions. Serving others is a way of conveying our optimism to people who are tired or desperate.

6. Set an example for your children. In our experience, we have seen how our children learn from our example and strive to imitate what we do. Even when they are young they understand that hard work and sacrifice are part of self-reliance.
7. top complaining. I confess that with all this crisis situation one of my hobbies was regretting myself. Sarcastic as it sounds, I wasted much of my valuable time complaining. But then I discovered that it was useless, it only weakened me further and limited my opportunities.

It is no secret to anyone that Venezuela is a country that needs a helping hand because there are people who are suffering. Not all of us have the ability to move forward and progress, but we are an instrument in God’s hands to help these people. Any help is well valued and I firmly believe that there are people outside of this country closely watching our situation to help us.

As I said before, maintaining optimism is not easy, but it has helped us not to lose heart, to show that through spiritual strength we can progress. It is not a time to be defeated, on the contrary, it is a time to be resilient and adapt to any situation.

We remain confident that this hard road will soon change and that our children will have a better future. The opportunities for them have to be different, but without a doubt, if they have to face a similar situation they would be prepared to emerge triumphantly.

 Reyna Luces,

Mrs. Luces is looking for any opportunities to utilize her freelancing skills and can be contracted via email at Reynaluces1986@gmail.com>