Self acclaim fosters contentment.
Please discuss. How does this play out in life?
I’ll start us out. This year’s events are changing all of us. We’re shifting, growing, and adapting, sometimes out of necessity, sometimes by choice. We’ve learned to do and handle things differently, and this has often proved challenging. And yet, most of us have survived—COVID-19, isolation, financial upset, endless political wrangles, unemployment, social injustice and upheaval. We’ve weathered all these stressors, and found new ways to navigate life. Still, we find reasons to beat ourselves up, ways we feel we could have been more prepared, things about which we should have known better. It only adds to our stress and makes coping more difficult.
On a personal front, I’ve managed to stay healthy so far, become more self-reliant and frugal, tried be by less enraged by politics and clearer on what changes I do want to see in my country, kept productive and busy, and soul searched and examined by thoughts and beliefs. These are not insignificant accomplishments in just a few, short months. I might not have made the changes so quickly without the external pressures, but the point is that I did. Rather than focusing on what isn’t yet “perfect” in my life, I need to take a break and celebrate what I’ve managed to do. I have plenty to savor in life, and will give myself credit for my successes. Life is good, and I help make it so.
How about you? What personal achievements can you recognize?