Some things can take the wind out of your sails – like having your passionate message met by a deadpan response, or ridicule. That has happened to me on occasion, as I strut about in my superhero costume!

What keeps me going? Well, did you ever have a negative initial reaction to a new idea, and then later (hours, months, years) come to the realization that you actually embrace that idea yourself? That may be what is going on with the person you are trying to inspire, or impact in some positive way. Just because on the surface it seems that you did not get the desired outcome, doesn’t mean that you did not make the impact you had intended.

Let’s take, for example, the 1983 Film “The Day After” which was a wake-up call as to the potential outcomes of nuclear war. Producer Nicholas Meyer was even ridiculed as a traitor by the New York Post, and labeled “unpatriotic” by the National Review… Yet years later it was revealed in President Ronald Reagan’s diary that it was upon watching a prescreening of the film, that Reagan resolved “to see there is never a nuclear war.”

Where would our world be today, if Nicholas Meyer had collapsed under the judgments made against them, and given up on the project?

Faith is sometimes compared to the mustard seed, which is very tiny, and yet grows into a tremendous plant. The response to your message may at times seem tiny to you – but oh, the difference you can make! You might never find out the impact of the seeds you plant. Keep faith in your dreams. Live by your passion. And love.