“Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise.” - Victor Hugo, Les Miserables

Springtime brings to mind images of lush green grasses, pastel-colored flowers, and cute and fluffy animals. But this spring has been dark. It has been cold, windy, rainy, cloudy, and overall depressing. At a time when we expect – no, NEED warmth and sunshine, it has been the opposite. And not just in the physical sense, but in the emotional sense as well. We have been beaten down by diseases, restrictions, war, and debates that have become personal. We are downtrodden, defeated, and deflated.

So I am declaring WAR…Wake-up And Read. I am picking a motivational book to have on my nightstand so that when my alarm goes off in the morning and I can’t quite drag myself out of bed yet, I will pick up my book and read – to get motivated, to attack the day with a positive attitude, and to find my purpose and drive. And maybe, just maybe, one day the sun will greet me.

Stay strong, find your motivation, and be the bright spot in a dull day! As Bram Stoker wrote in Dracula, “There are darknesses in life and there are lights, and you are one of the lights, the light of all lights.”