Take it from Your Grandmother: Your Biggest Problem is You.

“I’m too old to start a new career.” “I’ve never done something like that before.” “I don’t have enough education to work in a professional field.”

The barriers we place on ourselves are often in our own mind. We are usually our own worst enemy. For the New Year, stop listening to the negative voices in your head and be inspired by Bunker Roy, who showed that not only could rural women, many of whom were illiterate, become dentists and engineers, but in doing so, made it possible to rejuvenate their communities from the inside out.

Forget everything you’ve been taught about education. Think outside the box. If you have an idea, it can be done. Learn from your elders, listen to your community, and teach each other. Be the first in your family to go to college. Be the first in your family to start a business. Be the first. Change your community from the inside out. Just because you don’t know anyone who has done it before, doesn’t mean it can’t be done. It just hasn’t yet.

[su_photo_credit_1_photographer photolink=”https://www.flickr.com/photos/toehk/9351471187/in/photolist-ffmJzR-4XkUKx-8p5wp9-q2mWzd-6WAJtB-a5AXCP-dZRjFE-d6iQ8f-oUQzcr-8U1ADR-62woEZ-7vParp-4UXMzS-fBbbRy-aufpBG-nEoYTi-aVg49-6rLD8b-d3bL5L-4AVg4x-ae3zyU-ae3zys-bppc8-gkuwDP-67p8Y1-qdjuB-bzDUw8-bzDUtn-2fMzuK-5fJUy6-d3bLFs-66rvVU-6yzQd-bmK37d-9buiG6-ceXvb3-8xvfCZ-hX3LFM-dYDztz-PVLFS-jY5ysa-cKNxtw-b8bone-5ouVQr-8dsi8R-dGVhQY-5C9CHN-dXgBjf-74jpF5-kPC6EB”] Tauno Tõhk / 陶诺[/su_photo_credit_1_photographer]