As I mentioned last Friday, as I go on my “green adventures,” I’m also embarking on a journey of personal growth and discovery. And there’s no better way to go on a journey than to join with others, so I’m bringing you with me! (well, you only have to come if you want to, you can just watch me go on mine if you prefer). Last week was about Gratitude…this week is about wisdom.
Going forward, I’d like to post “new” things I learn during the week (I actually need to make more of an effort to learn new things more often), but this time, I’m going to mention some things I learned in the few years after I turned 30.
What I Know Now
Nobody pays NEARLY as much attention to you as you do. I still struggle to try and remember this one every once in a while, but recognizing this was instrumental in changing my life in my early 30′s. As most women are in their 20′s, I was obsessed with how other people saw me; I was nervous to speak in public, I was always self-conscious about my weight, and on and on. I just KNEW that everyone was watching me and scrutinizing everything I did and how I looked – and that kept me near-paralyzed for much of my early 20′s. Now that I KNOW that nobody is paying that much attention to me – they are (as I am now) much too concerned with their own life to give much thought to mine – I am more free.
It’s not a life or death situation, until it is. I had a run-in with this one earlier this week when one of my sites was having some “issues.” Overall, they were relatively minor, but I got myself so worked up about it, and frustrated that I didn’t know what to do immediately, that I got nauseous and couldn’t concentrate anyway! Anyway, the issues were fixed after I calmed down and got some help from Leo. But there IS NO REASON to get so worked up about something so minor that it physically manifests – save that for something serious! Hopefully I’ll remember this next time…
The more you do something, the easier it gets. Many years ago, I did yoga every morning without fail and when I stopped, I could tell a huge difference in my energy level, breathing, and demeanor. I never really tried very hard after that to start the habit again, even though I missed it, until recently. I’ve been getting up at 6:30 AM without fail for the last two weeks and now I can’t imagine NOT doing it. All it took was setting an alarm every morning and just getting up for 5 days in a row, and my habit was formed. Now it’s automatic for me to get up and do yoga – so easy.
There’s nothing to be afraid of – unless there is. This kind of goes back to my first point – my thinking that everyone was obsessed with what I was doing led to my being afraid to do a lot of things. But without fail, whenever I do something I’m afraid of (that’s not going to be physically harmful), I look back and feel silly for being afraid, because the saying is SO TRUE: that which does not kill me, makes me stronger. I still have this problem when making important decisions, but now that I recognize that it’s the fear that’s paralyzing me, not the actual consequences of my actions, it’s easier.
It’s all about me (or you). The more I focus on myself, and the less on other people, the happier I am. I learned that I need to worry about my actions, my decisions, and my impact, not on anyone else’s; MY life is the only one I can control, and obsessing over things you have no control over, or cannot change, is pointless, and sometimes harmful.
What do you know now? What have you learned?
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