“You will never grow passed
Challenges are usually the last thing we welcome in our lives. If we’re honest, most of us prefer comfort, promotion and favor over challenging situations, but here’s the truth: Challenges are always directly related to our next promotion. Write this down. When we fight to avoid challenges we delay our personal progress. On the other hand when we accept challenges, the personal growth and maturity we experience always surpasses the discomfort.
Over the course of this month, while I dug deep into self-awareness I discovered a lot of hidden junk. While I unpacked all of this I was challenged with how I would move forward. For one, I could ignore it and pretend like I was never aware of my struggles, resulting in self-denial and self-destruction. Or two, I could acknowledge it and clean it up which would cost me a lot of effort and time upfront, but the results would be more rewarding than what the process cost me. Does that make sense?
Choosing to process the destructive habits, mindsets and beliefs I carry not only liberates me to live authentically, but it also propels me into my next level of challenges and rewards. It’s truly a worthy journey when you think about all of the benefits. If you’d like to join in on the self-awareness challenge this month you can start by reading Self-Awareness: The Breakthrough To Your Personal Freedom .
As I’ve initiated this journey here are some challenges I’ve encountered that you may experience as well.
It’s always hard to find what you don’t know exists. Sometimes even after you’ve found it, it’s hard to believe it. Finding fault in others is almost too easy, but when we try to soberly evaluate ourselves things can get complicated. We tend to judge ourselves by our intentions but not by our actions. This produces cloudy judgement.
What I’ve practiced on and off over the years is asking for feedback from some of the most trusted people in my life that are closest to me like my husband. I also ask mentors to freely point out anything they see that could hinder me in the future. I’ll be honest, it’s not always easy hearing constructive feedback. I’m not always in the mood to hear about how I could’ve handled something better, but if you trust your inner circle and they have some of the qualities you wish to embody, then embrace your process and choose growth over comfort.
After you clearly identify the goal (area(s) of improvement), you have to be careful to remain balanced while accepting the truth. Here’s what I mean. To remain balanced you must accept your good and bad characteristics while not leaning towards either side or punishing yourself for not being where you want to be yet.
– Tee Forever
Once you recognize the area(s) that needs improvement it’s your responsibility to change. Accept the challenge and develop yourself. Someone wise once said “don’t decrease the goal, increase the effort.” You will only become better when you allow the challenges you face to mold you into a smarter, more capable, better version of yourself. The onus is on you to do something with the knowledge you’ve acquired about yourself. No one can or will force you to change. Choose growth over comfort.
Don’t allow the thought of hard work to discourage you from growing! Allow unbiased people into your inner circle and let them examine you. Accept your current state of growth and enjoy your process.
When you find an area that needs to be improved learn about how you can strengthen that area and implement the changes. Only you can deepen your self-awareness and change your life. Until next time.
