Personal Growth Miracles
I would say I’ve reached adulthood, matured, have reached the peak of my physical height. I’ve graduated university, have a steady job, and I think even my hair has grown long enough. Sounds like I’m all grown-up!
Except for one thing. What about my personal growth? If I had to compare it to human years, I think it’d still be a teenager. Okay, maybe a preteen.
Personal growth conjures up so many images. I know for me, my first thought was of a fat guy eating ice cream in the self-help section. I know, it’s a bit exaggerated but you get the point. The stigma surrounding personal development hasn’t always been the best.
But like many stereotypes, the reputation of personal growth has been a false one. It definitely has been for me. So how does a business school graduate go from a greedy money grubbing diva to a personal development junkie?
Well after working a crappy job at an oil company I realized I did not want to spend the rest of my life doing this. And for what? Money? Yes…
But what was that money going to get me? I thought about it for a while and it occurred to me that I have no idea what I would do with that money or what I wanted in life.
So, doing a complete 180, I said screw this, I’m not going to be miserable sitting on a pile of cash anymore. I left the world of finance and moved from comfortable Canada to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I had no idea what I would be doing, but as luck or fate would have it, I ended up working at a company in the personal growth field.
Talk about irony. But it was just what I needed. I went through a personal growth spurt immediately. I discovered some great minds like Tony Robbins, Brian Tracy, Dale Carnegie, and Deepak Chopra.
In essence, I learnt how to grow personally, spiritually, and emotionally, which unfortunately is not something they like to teach at school. Up until my big move overseas, all my answers to life, what I wanted, who I was, and where I wanted to be were so feeble and flimsy.
Now I see life differently. I’ve reevaluated my goals and who I want to be. Instead of focusing on X amount of money, I focus on what I want and how am I going to get it. Back in university, I used to dream of lying in the sun, sipping on ice tea, while reading a book by the pool. And my only path to that dream was to get a good job, make lots of money, then retire. But in doing that I lost sight of what I truly wanted. Since my dream was to lie in the sun, I realized I already accomplished that by moving to Malaysia. I didn’t need the money and I sure as hell didn’t need to retire. I’m lying by the pool and I still look good in a bikini.
While I’m by no means even close to hitting enlightenment or anything like that, I’m a little closer to it than I was a few years back.
The beauty of personal growth is that you don’t have to spend a lot of money or do something drastic like fly halfway round the world. It starts with you, your attitude, and your willingness to open yourself up to countless opportunities and ideas. Words on a page mean nothing unless you unlock your mind and let yourself be just a little bit vulnerable.