People can and do change, especially when they put their minds and hearts into it.
Recently, I was reflecting on my last year of experiences, interactions, study, and lots of focused effort on growth and learning. It sounds funny, but the thing that surprised me the most was, well, how much my growth surprised me!
Let me explain.
inner changes I’ve made. I was still thinking of myself as the “old me”. Consequently, my self esteem was still at old levels, too. I needed to update my internal operating system. Specifically, I noticed I’m keeping a really good balance between work and rest/play/self care. Balance is something I’m always working on, but I hadn’t stopped to notice that my work/rest balance is much better than it used to be. Something to celebrate!
And that got me wondering about you.
Like me, do you sometimes still think of yourself as you were in the past, or at a dominant time in life? Seeing yourself with fresh eyes and celebrating who you have become is a positive way to begin a new year.
So before you get too far into your New Year’s Intentions, take a moment to notice one positive way you’ve grown over the past year. Look back at times where you handled a situation with grace, took a risk, achieved something you set out to do, solved a problem, told the truth kindly, set a good boundary, opened your heart a little bit more, held steady, or just showed up as your best self in some way.
Look for the growth, for your positive past, for the times in your life when you really thrived last year. Ask yourself what you learned from those experiences and how you’ve changed because of them. And celebrate who you are becoming! Then resolve to take what you discovered and build on those successes in the coming year. You’re more likely to be successful in the future if you build on your positive past, taking the good qualities you used in the past into new areas of life. This builds your confidence and self esteem, and fuels positive change.
Grab a Self Esteem ToolKit or Map for practical how-to tips.