Hang Tough: Texas Can Do, What Texas Has Always Done…IF
As a motivational resilience speaker who loves the people of Texas, what I have always admired about Texas is its attitude. It is a can-do attitude. However, as a keynote Texas motivational speaker I know that the pandemic crippled the economy and often, the optimistic vision of Texans.
About a year ago
About a year ago, the Texas State Comptroller’s Office called the effects of the pandemic “the steepest and fastest drop in Texas economic activity in modern history.” It put nearly 1.5 million Texans out of work across all sectors of the economy. It wasn’t just about people, of course, but what it did to whole economic sectors.
By the early part of 2021, sales taxes were down 5 percent, oil production taxes were down 46 percent, natural gas production taxes were down 25 percent, and maybe most telling, hotel occupancy taxes were down nearly 50 percent. Hotel occupancy is a reflection of tourism, conventions and business activity itself.
Then at the end of 2021, the Texas Tribune published an article based on a poll by the Texas Politic Project. Joshua Blank, the research director of the study offered:
“The political context here is we’re not in a state of ‘the Texas miracle.’ This is not 2012, when we’re sitting here pounding our chests saying, ‘Hey, Texas is fine.’ You can’t look at these data and say, ‘Yeah, we’ve come out of the pandemic stronger.’ Or that we’re even out of the pandemic as far as all of its consequences are concerned.”
Speaking to many Texans, I am afraid the pervasive attitude has become more pessimistic than optimistic.
So, what has happened?
The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas posted their economic forecast in February 2022, and while there are many cautions ahead, nevertheless Texas has a higher job growth than the U.S. overall, employment is expected to increase by 3 percent and manufacturing output has improved. So, why is there so much pessimism?
It returns to mindset. Why has the indominable spirit, the vision we have of Texas being a forward looking, dynamic State, gotten so bogged down in gloom? That isn’t like Texas. My conclusion about all this pessimism is not based on statistics but on if we are determined to have each other’s backs, and to have the grit to lift each other up?
I love the spirit of Texas too much, to see Texans losing hope in the future. I disagree that many Texans feel defeated due to politics or inflation or supply-chain issues. We have always overcome our differences to heal one another, we have endured economic ups and downs and certainly temporary shortages. We can certainly do it again.
In my view, Texas has always had an abundance of creativity, bold optimism and energy, what is suddenly lacking is grit. I don’t believe it has disappeared, I believe we have lost faith in our dreams, our vision and unfortunately, in each other. There are miracles in front of us, because the miracle is us. All that is lacking is the resilience to adversity and the determination Texas has always had. We owe it to ourselves to get up and go forward. IF we can do that, if we are resilient enough to trust in our futures, nothing will stop us.
Scott Burrows, Texas Motivational Resilience Keynote Speaker. For more information, please contact Scott today at: 520 – 548 – 1169, or through this website.
