The Power of Asking ‘What If?’

Over the past 11 years, I have spent a significant amount of time in landfills around the world.

(I know, I chase the glamour gigs, right?).

I have worked with hundreds of people in those landfills.They are often stateless and vulnerable. They are always entrenched in the voracious cycles of poverty.

However, they also became my family and friends. And once you are a part of someone’s story, you open up a different path to a future you can build together.

As we would work in the landfill, I would see endless piles of tires. They cause deadly disease, they leech toxins and they take from 60-400 years to return to the earth.

Used tires are a massive global problem.

Like many problems in the world, it’s easy to convince yourself that someone else will do something about it.

But I am too curious to let go of something and I love to be able to think about possibilities. I had an idea. In fact, the name came to me for Brave Soles before the idea was fully formed in my heart and mind.

As I shared it with a few people, they would simply smile feebly, politely nodding their heads. They couldn’t yet see it like I did.

That was actually okay.

You know why?

Because they weren’t the ones who were going to have to answer for what they did with the idea when the gentle whisper came calling, reminding them of what they could do with what was in front of them.

Have you ever heard that whisper?

It will often come at a time when it feels inconvenient. You will be able to make a long list of all the reasons why you should just turn back the ship and head to the familiar harbour you know.

But, can I be honest here for a minute?

When you have come through the fire and learned how to let go of everything you thought you needed or should have, you come out on the other side transformed by the very source of Wisdom and Love.

Love says to you, “This is where you needed to be all along.”

Wisdom says to you, “We’ve got this; this is figure-out-able.”

And with a cheering section like that, I decided that the worst that could happen is that I do nothing. But friend, we are not given this life to embrace “nothing”.

Like you, I am blessed with this one wild and precious life that is a reflection of the One who created me.

I am here because I am part of a world that is calling out for Wisdom and Love to be made real through the power of action.

And so are you.

Do you have a dream that has surprised you with how real and possible you can see it? Do you feel lost at where to start?

Start here: ask yourself what the first step is that you can take today to help bring it into reality. If it feels too big for you, it is.

But this is the only way that change happens, how legacy is built and how history is made.

It happens through the power of one life saying, “What if?”

Christal Earle is the Founder of Brave Soles, a social enterprise based in the Domnican republic She is a passionate communicator, an author and entrpreneur.

www.bravesoles.life – click here to purchase handmade shoes that are fitted with recycled tire soles and made in the Dominican Republic. 

www.livedifferent.com – click here to book Christal for speaking engagements or to know more about the work that she does!