The Milestones That Transform Us

I passed a milestone a short while ago, one that I’d been working towards achieving for a number of years. Friends would ask how it changed me. My answer is – at first – that it didn’t change me, that I felt the same. Then I began to notice how I approach challenges differently, and wondered if that is part of the change. How, I ask, can achieving a designation change me that much?

A few weeks ago, I completed a personal ceremony that had me look back at my relationship with my father – how that relationship shaped me. He was the boss in our household and everyone’s will was expected to bend to his. It didn’t always work that way. When you’re the boss, then you have a major responsibility to be mature and wise and kind, even if strict. He couldn’t quite manage that, and I ended up forming certain ideas and beliefs that weren’t helpful in my own adult life. By re-examining these beliefs during my personal ceremony, I came to a startling realization: that I am now the boss in my life, and that I have the knowhow to be exactly that.

As with that milestone I just achieved, this ceremony has changed me.

What I now know from these and other similar experiences is that every time I deliberately challenge myself to grow into a better human being, I change. For the better.

Have you noticed that about yourself too?

Quote of the Week

“There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.”
― Nelson Mandela

Forget the corporate ladder - winners take risks

Announcements

Maryanne Nicholls is a Registered Psychotherapist.  To find out more, gain access to her weekly newsletter, meditations and programs, sign up at www.thejoyofliving.co . 

If you’re interested in the topic of avoiding burnout for people who do too much, you may be interested in checking out my youtube channel.