Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Measuring Personal Growth

The past few years have been challenging for me and our family to say the least. It has been tough, but times of testing are where character is formed. I have held on to that even when I haven't seen any other benefit.

However, I have been struggling recently with how much I have actually grown through all this. The worst possible outcome would be where I spent years going to hell and back only to find that I forgot to pick up what I was there to get. So how do you measure maturity? How do you determine that a difficult experience has molded you for the better?

I am in the middle of this, so my thoughts are most likely half baked, but this helps me finish them out.

1. Ask people who have known you the whole time. A lot of change is slow. And being that I am eternally self-present it is hard to notice gradual change. Asking friends or family for their perspective shines light on things from a different angle.

2. Think back to what you were struggling with back then (whenever that was). The questions I was asking five years ago were probably quite a bit different than what I am asking now. Those questions may look silly to me now, or not. One example that springs to mind was about four years ago I was very frustrated with having to help around the house as much as I was. I specifically was annoyed at having to do the dishes. I had to be asked every time and I almost always had a bad attitude about it. I don't know exactly where things changed, but I don't have a bad attitude about it now and I almost never have to be asked. In fact at this point doing dishes is a stress relief.

3. What are your dreams? As you mature your dreams and ambitions will shift. You will develop a stronger understanding of what is important and that will change how you view success. Even over the past few months my career goals have shifted some. Not more or less ambitious, but prioritizing different things.

I guess keeping a journal would make an evaluation like this a lot easier. It isn't something I am good about doing, but if I did this would be a bit more quantitative.

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