I have been doing some personal self-assessment lately and it’s amazing what you find out about yourself, when you ask. While digging around in my own mind, with some help,  I have discovered some character traits that I knew on some level, I suppose, but never fully appreciated how deeply they run.

It’s interesting how sometimes you need someone else to point it out and you realize it’s been there all along it’s just hard to see because, well, it’s been there all along.

For example, it was recently laid before me that I am driven, possibly more than needed. I don’t think of myself in that way so it came as a bit of a surprise. At first, I resisted the idea and then the more I sat with it, the more I thought it was probably true.
In that same context, I can also be tunnel-focused, a one-note Nancy, if you will. It turns out that these skills, while great if you are a pack mule, are less so if you are wanting be balanced and live a little.

Taking a good, long, deep look at yourself isn’t always easy. You start to see how what you perceive as your strengths can be overused and start to drag you down. You also see where your weaknesses may actually be goodness waiting to be tapped.

This fearless (sometimes fear full) self-examination has frequently had me squinting or wanting to cover my eyes because looking at yourself, proverbially and literally, in the mirror is a faith walk. It’s having faith that on the other side is better than where you are. It’s having faith that you can handle what you find. It’s also, maybe even more difficult, learning to love yourself in spite of, or because of, what you find.

That last one is still going to take a minute (or two).

Just like any process or evolution, it’s in the climbing that you find the value, the worth, the reward. But along with the climbing, and sometimes rappelling, you need to take a break every once in a while. You need to have fun and live the life you are in instead of always working toward the one you are trying to create.

Sunshine & Sarcasm,
Lowi & G