Hello,
This is Curtis from Walking Home.
Sometimes I grow weary of hearing the familiar Happy New Year wishes.
Maybe it's because I've seen so many New Years come and go.
And the truth is,
Any day we still have ahead of us is as good a day to recommit to something,
Or to resolve to something,
Or to try something new.
A quote that I saw today was on Insight Timer,
And it caused me to pause.
It's from Arthur Ashe.
Start where you are.
Use what you have.
Do what you can.
When I looked a little deeper,
I realized how much weight that sentence carries.
Arthur Ashe wasn't just a great athlete.
He was the first African American man to win the U.
S.
Open in 1968,
During a time when segregation and racial barriers made that achievement far more difficult than we can easily imagine today.
He went on to win the Australian Open and Wimbledon,
But his influence didn't stop at tennis.
He was an activist,
An author,
An educator,
And a tireless advocate for civil rights and racial equality,
Not just in the U.
S.
,
But globally.
He used his voice to push back against injustice,
To stand with the marginalized,
And to speak for those who are often ignored,
Including women and minorities around the world.
Knowing that,
His words land differently.
He wasn't speaking from comfort or ease.
He was speaking from lived experience,
And his wisdom still holds.
Start where you are.
Use what you have.
Do what you can.
Every January,
People make resolutions,
Usually in a few familiar areas—finances,
Relationships,
Work,
And personal growth.
And a lot of the time,
We mean well,
But we also build ourselves an escape hatch.
We tell ourselves,
Well,
I'm not in the right place,
Or I don't have the right tools,
I don't have the money,
I don't have the ability,
I'll start later,
When things are more calm.
And Arthur Ashe's words quietly remove those excuses.
This reminds me of something from my Army life,
The idea of improving our hooch.
A hooch is whatever you're living in,
Maybe a tent,
Maybe a hole in the ground,
Maybe some makeshift shelter.
You don't always get what you want,
But you improve what you've got.
You rig up a poncho so you stay dry.
You use whatever cord that you have.
You make the space a little more livable,
Right where you are.
It's not glamour,
It's reality.
And honestly,
It's a good way to live.
Necessity breeds innovation.
Doing what we can,
Right now,
Gives us something powerful,
Momentum.
Someone once told me it's hard to steer a ship that isn't moving,
But once it's moving,
It can be turned.
And in life,
A type of hooch itself,
A lot of our change comes the same way,
Not from some giant transformation,
But from small forward motion.
It's not how many times you go down,
It's how many times you get up.
And you only have to get up one more time than you go down to succeed.
So if you're listening to this near the new year,
Fine.
That's when I recorded it,
January of 2026.
But if you're listening on an ordinary Tuesday,
Perhaps in July,
That's fine too.
Start where you are.
Use what you have.
Do what you can.
That's enough to begin.
And sometimes,
Beginning is the bravest thing that we can do.
Whatever you're facing,
Start where you are.
I'm Curtis,
Still walking home,
One step at a time.
