Don't Stop Your Own Growth

2010 is rapidly coming to a close and many people will start to take stock in what they have accomplished this year.

Is my faith in God stronger than it was last year?

Did I get the job I wanted?

Did I go back to school?

Am I healthier?

Did I find the man/woman of my dreams?

How have I made my life happier?

These are just some of the kinds of questions we tend to reflect on when analyzing our current state of affairs.  In all our questioning and reflection, we hardly ever look at the things we have done that may have hindered our growth. We lean more towards reflecting on the things we could have done to make things better. One way to ensure you change your way of thinking and propel yourself into a place of accomplishing your goals is to, first, be honest about the things you have actually done to hinder yourself. I don't mean dwell on them; just acknowledge them. Knowing where you went wrong or where you could have done something different will cause a red flag to go up the next time you are about to make the same mistake. Now whether or not you choose to make the same mistake is totally up to you but just make sure you are willing to deal with the outcome; good or bad.

It may have been a relationship that began or ended and you are looking at where you are in it right now. Did you have little stupid fights over nothing? In that case, what would you have done differently? Did you think all was well but it suddenly took a turn down a strange road and now it's over? In this case, what signs did you miss that could have told you it was ending?

Sometimes, things just happen. It's not that anything was your fault or that anything could have been done differently.  Don't beat yourself up about it. Maybe everything turned out better than you expected? Could you have made it even better? Who knows? All I know is 2010 held both happiness and sadness for me; discouragement and encouragement; despair and hope. I can reflect on this year and see that I trusted others more than myself. I doubted my ability to be a great woman. I minimized my external and internal beauty and I spent too much time in regret of all I had not accomplished. I had many many great days full of happiness and laughter but as always, the sad days seem to linger.

I cannot guarantee that 2011 will be full of only happy days but I will tell you this, with all my power, it will be a heck of a lot better than 2010. I'm closing several chapters and gearing up for new ones. I have written about the hope for my future and family, I still have it.  All the people I have loved in 2010, I still love.  I have realized that some of those people I have to love from a distance.  I have to love Tara up close and in person. Get ready! 2011's a comin'!