How did I get here?
That is a question we all ask ourselves from time to time. As we travel through life we come upon various events that cause us to pause and reflect on our life's journey...or at least we should. These events can be positive or negative. Either way, they should make us look at who we have become and how we have gotten here.
For me, this has been a journey of at least 25 years. That is when I bought my first self-help cassette tape series. It was a program designed to help me create a positive attitude and improve my sales skills. I listened faithfully for months. I did gain a much more positive attitude but sales skills didn't improve that much.
As time went on, I acquired more and more self-help books, tapes and CDs. Books like The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Awaken the Giant Within and In Search of Excellence were just the beginning. I started to read more and more...business books, personal improvement books. I purchased Anthony Robbins CD programs and listened for hours on end. All of the information I was consuming was great, but there was something missing. I was missing self confidence!
For years I lived with the fear that people would not like me if they knew who I "really" was. I couldn't possibly live up to the facade I had created. Then, one day I was having a very frank conversation with a close friend. He made some comments about how he viewed me and our relationship. It opened my eyes to how others actually did see me. At age 52, I was no longer the little boy or young man in search of acceptance. I was an adult that could be and was now respected for who I was. All the years of listening to and reading self-help material all seemed to come together in one moment with the words of a dear friend. This was the first major turning point in my life.
There have been several other important personal revelations in my life since then, but that was the first and the most important. The realization that I was not inferior, was not stupid, was not an idiot, was the door that opened a new world of self-confidence to me. Since that time, I have come to learn that few of us have grown up in healthy households. Yet, many of us have overcome these issues and live happy lives. What have you overcome? How did you get here? Share your stories with us.
How interesting it is that all of us at some point and time in our lives have had those same issues of self doubt and wondered how people perceive us….I am forever remind that “I am fearfully and wonderfully made”. My Heavenly Father said, “he knew me while I was in my mother’s womb and still loved me in spite of myself”! How cool is that? However, I still had my fear and doubt.
ReplyDeleteI too have read multiple books that allowed me to take a glimpse at the person I avoided for years “me”. I read multiple books by authors like Joyce Myers and Michelle McKinney- Hammond. In Joyce’s book, “Battlefield of the Mind” it helped me deal with the voices of doubt and negativity that kept me enslaved to neediness. Michelle McKinney- Hammond wrote books that dealt with issues of being a woman such as; Secrets of an Irresistible Woman; Single, Sassy and Satisfied; The Mystic of an Woman: and the best one of all “Divia-Tudes”. McKinney- Hammond’s books helped and taught me to recognize my worth as a woman. Ultimately, setting the stage for my self-confidence and esteem. These books became the instruments of change God used to help me appreciate my authentic, creative and very unique self. And, I am still evolving into that woman God describe as being “fearfully and wonderfully made”…..…
How did I get there? It was the result of the labor pains caused by the naysayers and haters. Resulting with me giving birth to the dream and vision God placed in my heart….I had the help of several loved ones that planted and watered seeds of hope and encouragement. Don’t know if I have arrived just yet. But what I do know is, we are forever developing and growing….. and it’s all good. I am not what people say I am, I am who God says I am….
Penny
“A sista fro the Neighborhood”