For those of you who don’t know 2014-2018 was a season of major changes for me. I had my first child, my little brother passed away in a car accident, I got married, I opened and closed several businesses, I had my second child, I got a divorce. This is pretty much the last 4 years in a nutshell. At the end of last year I decided I needed a huge change, I wanted to reorganize my life, discover my interests as a woman and mother, and reinvent the new me. Not to be confused with changing myself, but I decided that a walk through the self rediscovery would catapult me into a phase of reinvention!
I am super excited about 2019! January was a huge success and it is the first year that I am doing it on my own; momming, running a single parent household, and keeping my sanity. A huge part of sanity is self discovery. I have identified 5 areas of my life to analyze and to revamp or reinvent to become my best self.
Self Nurturing
This is a huge piece of reinvention. When trying to discover you in the state that you are now, you will find things that you’re not great at or proud of. Having strong self esteem at this time is pivotal for success in this project. Know your weaknesses and rediscover your strengths. It is important to know where you can improve as you may choose to alter your interests to facilitate improvement within yourself but don’t wallow in the negative. Focus on discovering your strengths. We aren’t just given a basket of strengths to improve upon when we are born. The cool thing is, life experiences bring us new strengths. Often we are too wrapped up in life to acknowledge them. Take the time to be proud of what you are good at and what you have accomplished over the years.
Discovery:
I decided to write a list of all of the things I am proud of physically, mentally, and spiritually. I found that there were items on that list that have just become strengths when I became a mother, things that developed through the death of my brother, and others that became through divorce. I spent a smaller amount of time considering my weaknesses. I recognized the patterns and decided through reinvention, I would attempt eliminate them from my life.
Your Interests
As an adult, I often find myself reminiscing about my childhood and the activities that I used to revel in. As I child I loved the theatre, to paint, to craft, to make pottery, to draw, to sew… all things I have not truly engaged in in over a decade. As a teen I would buy textbooks on psychology and the human brain for self teaching and also tried to study Spanish. It is so easy to let the everyday routine of life get in the way. Bills and trying to maintain them seem to be the biggest “interest stomper” in my life. I decided that I would tap into the activities that I used to enjoy and after trying a few of them out, I was shocked by the outcome.
Discovery:
I discovered that I do not really enjoy all of the activities that I used to and that I am not as good at them either. One by one I tried each activity. It turns out, I am not much of a painter anymore and my drawing skills have all but died. I am pretty good with pottery and equally enjoy this activity as I did as a child. Theatre still enthralls my imagination and sends me into pleasant daydreams in the small moments of quietness throughout the days. Sewing has become more of a necessity with owning a boutique and having kids. Surprisingly, I have really fallen in love with ballet and other unique fitness mediums. I also enjoy reading christian books. Psychology still fascinates me so I have gotten in to podcasts on the subject, and I listen to them on the way to work. Making time to celebrate your individuality and enjoy moments that feed your interests is very important to nurturing your soul while reinventing.
Your Body
Taking care of our bodies is essential, not only to the obvious physical health, but to our mental stability and confidence. When we feel great about the way we look we tend to be more upbeat in our day to day life. Also, once we see the positive changes, we crave more and the habit of hitting the gym and fueling our bodies with more nutritious foods begins. Reinvent your look while doing the same to your life.
Discovery:
This past January I did an intense fitness challenge in which I completed and felt amazing after. My challenge results left me looking for new more exciting workouts and put the ide in my head that I would try a new high intense workout every month to keep my mind engaged. Want to check out my January Fitness Challenge? Click here.
Something to Believe In
Do you have something to believe in? I am not specifically talking about a specific religion, I am just speaking of the world in the sense of a higher power. Going about life believing that there is no purpose seems soul shattering to me. I challenge you to research and entertain the idea of believing in something larger than yourself. If you do believe, then make sure this is a daily subject in your life. When reinventing yourself, having the grace of your creator to turn to in moments of confusion for guidance is very important.
Discovery:
There have been so many moments in my adult life where I have literally been taken to my knees, down to the floor, desperate for grace and healing but in those moments I never felt alone, even when I was alone in this world. Having a higher power to believe in has given me hope when I felt I had nothing left. It seems silly to the outside person looking in on my life to think these times ever existed but they have, in multitude.
“Everyone thinks that I am an ultimate insider, but the truth is, I have always felt like an outsider” – Jackie Kennedy
Your Career
It’s not very hard to recognize what you do not want to do, but knowing what you enjoy proves to be more difficult. Most of us spend over 2/3 of our waking hours at work, yet a lot of us are not inspired or are not experiencing personal growth while doing so. I feel that our purpose on this earth is to grow personally in order to give back to each other and our society, therefore our career choices in life are very important ones.
The questions is, what type of person are you? There is no wrong answer. Are you open to risk if it means you get to live your “Best Life”, not your richest life but your BEST life? Does the thought of suppressing your inner creativity when it comes to your daily job to conform to the expectations of your superiors turn you off? Just as the economy ebbs and flows, are you prepared to come up with creative, legal ways to produce cash during the hard times and stash cash when you are riding the wave for another ebb?
If your answer is yes, then you may want to start thinking of becoming your own boss and joining the small business community. If the answer is no, then you may be one who thrives in an environment that is more established. The question to ponder here is this, when you are on your deathbed, will you be fully satisfied with how you spent your working years? A huge way to reinvent your life is through a career change whether it be to entrepreneurism or landing your dream job or position.
Discovery:
The answer to all of those questions above for me is YES. Like I said, neither answer is a wrong answer but because I am not adverse to risk and I cannot turn off my creative ideas to focus on projects that I have not had a hand in developing, I decided 6 years ago to become an entrepreneur. It has been triple the work with less pay than my former corporate job, but I seriously wouldn’t change a thing. I truly love what I do and reaping the benefits from my creations is food for my soul. I realize that all of this seems a bit self absorbed. Not everything I do has been a success. As a matter of fact, I have failed 60% of the time, but challenging the failures and getting super excited about trying out a completely new idea to take on the project again is also exhilarating to me. This re-inventive time of my life has facilitated my reinvention now!
With all of this being said, there are TONS of jobs out there that are more secure, are very creative, and can promote growth. Entrepreneurism is not the only way, this is just the obvious path for a personality that is a little more “career rebellious” like mine.
If you feel comfortable enough, please share in your journey through re-invention in the comments below! I would love to learn new ways to improve upon our short life here on earth and further my journey through re-invention.
