How the Colt turned into a Horse

Have you ever considered how you gained independence and learned to become a responsible adult?   Listening to a friend convey her thoughts on the topic of growing pains, I found myself pondered my past, unfolding early memories.

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What were the cornerstones which allowed you to become the person you are today?   Was it many experiences, or a just a few paramount things that happened?  Did you learn primarily from a happy situation or from from the school of hard knocks?

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For me there were two things that come to mind.  First, I had the unfortunate experience of being involved in two car wrecks during high school and consequently undergoing facial scar revision, during college years.   Because of this, I was offered the gift of learning how to feel gratitude for life and to give thanks for my physical functioning body and it also occured then, that all people are suffering.  Some suffer on the inside and others on the outside and so I began to understand what compassion means.

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 The other 'life~changer' happened when I was a freshman in college.  The blue skies turned dark one November afternoon when my boyfriend broke up with me.  This was the first day my world came to a halt, still and desolate, as if I were floating in a dream, empty and alone.

What happened next: 

A few days later, I began writing about my feelings.  This was a gift as I was privy to see more concretely, what was going on in my life and that helped me to cope.  Soon I devised a plan of action to reinvent the person I had been, sick of feeling alone and lost.  A goal without a plan is just a wish; Antoine de Saint Exupery.   At first, my energy was fueled by thinking; "I will show that guy"!  But in the end,  it wasn't about that guy at all.  It turned out that his 'dropping me' was a gift he allowed me to give to myself. 

 

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For the first time in my life, I began respecting and taking care of who I was,  both inside and out.  I became a new creation and started making new healthier choices in my life and took on the responsibility of trying to be and look my best.  I quit smoking cigarettes and started exercising.  I realize now that this "plan", was actually my personal formula for becoming an responsible adult.

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Thinking back, the hardest teenage experiences are what forced me to realize I needed to take action to help myself become a healthy and whole individual.   So much good came out of this period of my life as I made a conscious decision to become a more social and responsible person!

 

Taking charge of one own happiness is an on going project, don't you think? 

Nuff about me!  What about YOU??

xox

Constance