Everyone needs a little encouragement now and then. And, this is especially true for young people. This is exactly the reason why the National Day of Encouragement exists. We all constantly face challenges in our lives. Often, without encouragement, people are not incented or fired up to successfully meet them and reach for the stars. It’s so much easier to do something or reach a goal when people encourage you to succeed. This September 12 holiday nurtures a “Can Do” attitude. It encourages youth to excel, to accomplish their goals, and to be everything that they can be.

Words are a powerful tool. They can discourage people and be counter productive. More often than not, a discouraging word leads to failure or causes a person to not even try something exciting, yet challenging. Conversely, offering words of encouragement has powerful, positive results. Importantly, it creates a positive mindset. Obviously, a positive, highly productive attitude is what we want to instill in our children and the people around us. Without it, a young toddler will still learn to take that very first step. But it will take the child longer to do so. Without encouragement, a grade school student struggles to learn. Inspiring words can energize someone to great accomplishments. A cheering crowd at a High School basketball game is solid proof.

The original intent of this holiday was to offer encouragement to youth. Like all great holidays, and this is a great one, people often expand the goals and objectives of the holiday. While this holiday was originally intended to inspire youth, it now is a stimulus for people of all ages to excel. So, let’s use this holiday to challenge people to be all that they can be!