I’m half way through Joe Plumeri’s little book, “The Power of Being Yourself.” In it, the renown business man discusses his life and shares his secrets to success. His claim to fame is his positivity, but while he was able to use this trait to motivate hundreds (if not thousands) of people in every company he led, he was unable to get through to one of his own sons whose struggles ultimately led to drug dependency and death. You can’t help but feel the pain of this loving father who is vaunted in the business community for his many triumphs and yet haunted by what he considers his biggest personal failure; the inability to rehabilitate his own son.

Whether it’s trying to help a single, wayward teen get his life on track or trying to help an entire country embrace freedom and democracy..it sadly seems that some efforts are doomed no matter how much assistance is offered.

But then there are those who seem to have such an irrepressible desire to live a consequential life that no hardship, no lack of resources, nothing can stop them from fulfilling their destinies. Like Joe Plumeri, they have an ever-hopeful vision of the future and the remarkable ability to adapt as circumstances change.  They are able to convert sadness and defeat into fuel for a brand new journey if the old path crumbles underfoot.

I love reading motivating books like this because it reminds me that failure isn’t final and that each day is another precious opportunity to make my small corner of the world a better place.

These two pictures I took this week-end remind me of those, like Joe, who continue to grow and “bloom” in spite of incredibly tough times.