This is the first of (many) ideas that have sprung from reading the book "Eat, Pray, Love". It took me several months to get through the whole thing. Although I liked the book as a whole, the start and about half of the middle were a bit hard to get through since there were tons of three letter words dropped everywhere (big turn off for me personally) so... I'm going to get off my soapbox and keep going. :)
The following is an exert from the book so please bear with me on this: " a housewife, then unexpectedly became a widow, then took up fan-dancing to make money, ended up somehow as the first female dentist in out space, an then tried to hand at national politics - yet who has managed to hold an intact sense of herself throughout every upheaval."
This really hit home for me in that I know I am no where near who I was 27 months ago (boy that doesn't sound very long ago... Does it?) and I know I'm probably not done changing yet either. The fact is, no one is completely done changing until they take their last breath. Each and every human being is constantly changing (whether we like it or not) and have been since the time that we were born. We've all had chaos to deal with in one way or another.
When I was working on a locked Geri-Psych floor in Knoxville, Tn., there was an exercise that we social workers used with the patients. Most of these patients could remember back to when they were children and we asked them to think about when they first went to Kindergarten and how they felt. The first time they went to the 5th or 6th grade and how they felt about the change. Some had good memories about those times and some did not. We all have those kinds of memories that were either pleasant or horrible but, like most kids, we all rolled with the flow, tried to do what we were told and make whoever proud of us.
What changes when we become adults and start having panic attacks, sleepless nights, and anxiety because of changes? Is it because we place more pressure on ourselves or allow pressure to be placed on us? When we were kids, we knew that (somehow) everything was going to work out ok. We had confidence in our family or those that loved and cared about us and we didn't worry. What happened??
I don't know about you but, I'm trying to get back to having that confidence of a kid again. Too many times, we lose our faith in ourselves, others, God, etc and we get sooo wrapped in everything else that we lose who we are as a person. When was the last time that you went and did some serious swinging on the swings? To have that feeling of "flying" through the air without limits (at least as long as the chain would let us... Ha!).
Sure, we all have responsibilities to God, our children, parents, family, co-workers, etc... But we also have a responsibility to our individual selves in not getting so wrapped up in stuff that we forget who we are.
Change, for the most part, is a good thing if we handle it right. We can either face it kicking and screaming like a tyrant 2-yr old or just go with whatever God has in store for us and see what happens.
More to follow.....
