For many of us, dramatic life or career changes bring feelings of fear, uncertainty, anxiety and overwhelm. It is typically unsettling to move out of our comfort zones and embrace the foreign; we are creatures of habit after all. However, with time and the settling of dust, we resist less and soften to the newness. We begin to make in-roads and construct our well traveled paths, again!
As the saying goes, change always comes bearing gifts, but what are the gifts of change? While sometimes they are obvious forms of materialism and achievement, the richer gifts are usually much more subtle. Many of us hurry the process of dramatic change along so we can get comfortable again and ignore the lessons that have evolved from our new situation. These life lessons lay hidden beneath each new experience, good or bad. They can be the underlying truth of our actions or emerge from the uncontrollable forces of nature. Whatever they are they deserve your attention and respect, as they are there to enlighten the inner self.
What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger
Indeed, life throws us hard punches and sometimes we feel that we simply can not bounce back. The truth be known, we usually do reemerge from the depths of our hell having felt that we went through it for a reason. However, what makes us stronger is not the difficult experience itself but rather the life lessons we learned from our struggle. All too often we just suffer through our stressful time and fail to recognize the valuable gift that is presented before us. Most of the time we want to forge on through our battle, so we can go back to feeling normal again. While it is right to persevere it is important to go deep inside ourselves to listen to our inner voice, as there is always a valuable life lesson to be learned.
Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid of standing still-Chinese Proverb
As women in our thirties, we pressure ourselves to be where everyone else is and try to hurry things up. We don’t want to be left behind and we shudder at the thought of not having already done something. We so often want to be just like everyone else and spend a lot of time wishing our lives away. Instead of trusting the universe and our inner self that things will naturally unfold the way there are meant too, many of us selfishly force life’s natural offerings of love, marriage, motherhood and success, which can leave us unfulfilled and wanting more. So many of us do not want to be patient because we believe patience brings complacency which doesn’t move us ahead, when in fact patience brings appreciation, enjoyment and wisdom.
We are sophisticated women. In today’s world we don’t need to worry about missing the bus or missing that chance, the bus will always come around again if it is destined. Listen to your inner voice and slow down your life’s pace, you will begin to move towards your own personal enlightenment and create a deeper understanding of yourself. Realize your gifts and consider the benefits of your life’s change and appreciate your lesson however small it may be.
