My favorite cartoon strip is from Peanuts creator Charles Schulz. In it, Lucy asks, “I wonder if anyone ever really changes.” Charlie Brown is offended, “I’ve changed a lot this past year.” She looks at him, “I mean for the better.”

Hmmm. Would you say you’ve changed – for the better – this year?

A favorite example in my upcoming book about the Force for Good Project is of a family who changed more in the past six months than many of us have in decades.

Here’s what I mean.

My son, his family, and I spent Thanksgiving with my sister and her family last year. During dinner, Cheri’s daughter shared her dream that – someday – she’d like to own a ranch and start a non-profit that rescued draft horses.

For fun, we jumped on Zillow to see if there were any ranches close to us in Texas, and if so, how much they cost.

We ooh’d and aahh’d over a few of the properties, “Look, this one has a barn and two large pastures,” “This one has a pond.” We left, thinking that was that.

Imagine my surprise when Cheri called to announce, “We’re moving to Texas.”

“You’re what?!”

“Christina found a ranch in Mexia, Texas in her budget and bought it.”

“Wow. Congratulations. When are you moving?”

“March 15.”

“Cheri, that’s six weeks from now.”

“I know! We’ve got a lot to do, we’d better get busy.”

Well, let’s hear it for making your dreams come true… now, not later.

Cheri, Joe, and Christy drove themselves and their “stuff” halfway across the country to launch Working Draft Rescue & Rehab. (Kudos on that great name!)

They’ve already adopted six horses (Percherons, Belgians, a Friesian), a mini-pony, a “zebra” mule, a pregnant donkey, and two cows.

All the horses (most of whom have worked hard all their life pulling plows and buggies) were at a kill shelter where they were scheduled to be slaughtered.

Christy adopted them, trailered them to Mexia, had them checked by a vet and a farrier, and they’re now out grazing in a green field with grass up to their bellies.

If horses could talk, I bet they’re sending up thanks for winning the lottery and hanging with buddies in a loving home instead of where they were headed.

Let’s put this in perspective.

This move meant leaving the California home and community where Cheri, Joe, and Christy have lived in for 35 years. It meant transferring their longtime bookkeeping business to all virtual – and hoping their clients decided to come with them.

It meant downsizing their possessions until they fit in a single horse trailer, which they would haul halfway across the country as they drove to their new home in a town they’d never visited.

It meant signing up for the logistical challenges of living “out in the middle of nowhere.”

If you’ve ever lived on a ranch, you know that…things go wrong. There are always emergencies – animals getting out, equipment breaking, utilities that need to be fixed.

Has it been hard? Yes.

The plumbing went out the day after they moved in.

Could they find a plumber? No.

Did Christy go online, study YouTube videos, and figure out how to fix it herself?

Yes.

Did lightning strike a huge tree in their front yard the second week they were there? Yes.

Did it come crashing down, just narrowly missing the house, and blocking the road? Yes.

Did their neighbor show up with a chainsaw and offer to help out? Yes. Did that neighbor, upon discovering they were rescuing draft horses as part of their non-profit, offer to lease her 14 ares to them for $60 a year (!) so their “gentle giants” could have more grazing pasture?

Yes.

Virginia Woolf said, “A self that goes on changing is a self that goes on living.”

In the past few months, the Grimm Family has had dozens of “character-building” opportunities to get resourceful, figure things out, and go on changing.

Yet, every night, when Cheri and Joe sit on their back porch at golden hour, and Christy yells, “BUCKETS,” they watch their horses (who were so lame when they arrived they could barely walk without pain) trotto the barn, ears up, eyes bright, to get their nightly ration of grain.

Cheri says, “This move is one of the ‘rightest’ things we’ve ever done.”

What they couldn’t have known is that betting on their dream has set up a FORCE FOR GOOD ripple effect that is even better than they could have imagined or hoped for.

They’ve met people they never would have met, and they’re already giving back to their community by sponsoring the local rodeo, Chamber of Commerce, and farmers market.

They’ve grown, learned, and gained skills they never would have had otherwise.

They’re supporting their local veterinarian, farrier, shelter, and neighboring ranchers and creating a rising-tide community where everyone has each other’s back and front.

They feel a satisfying sense of agency, self-respect, and meaningful success that comes from doing what you want to do and what you said you’d do.

Kudos to them for having the courage to bet on themselves and their dream – for being walking-talking-thriving Forces for Good.

How about you?

• How have you changed in the past year?
• How have you exercised your agency?
• What have you set in motion that has produced a ripple effect of proactive positivity?

Please understand, being a Force for Good never just impacts just one person.

Your action serves as a shining example of what is possible to everyone around you as they witness what it looks like to be lit up with a meaningful Ikigai that gives life purpose.

Cheri, Joe and Christy’s story is just one of fifty in my upcoming Force For Good Project book.

I’m indebted to the Southwest Airlines flight attendant who announced on a recent flight, “There may be 50 ways to leave your lover, but there are only 4 ways to get off this plane.”

The FFG book features fifty short chapters (2-3 pages each) that share real-life examples and insights from people of all walks of life who have elected to become Forces for Good.

Guess you can tell I’m a woman on a mission. In today’s world, we need more tangible proof that we can make a positive, proactive difference – and everyone should try. It’s ours to do.

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Want to be notified when the FFG book is available? Like to arrange for me to share my inspiring keynote on this topic at your conference? You can right here.