Quietly Affirming Your Change
If you’re earnestly working on some New Year’s resolutions, you may be waiting and hoping for others to notice the “new and improved” you.
Don’t hold your breath.
Janet Hagberg, one of my favorite thought leaders (to whom we’ll turn frequently here for her wisdom), has a great observation about making a personal change.
Don’t expect people to applaud you when you change. Most people are moving too fast to notice. You can applaud yourself.
Yes, indeed.
In fact, I’ll go one step further. Make it a little game. Monitor your progress, give yourself the credit you are due, and take a little secret pride in the fact that no one else has noticed whatever positive evolution you’ve managed to create for yourself.
Why secret pride in going unnoticed? Because that means that you aren’t calling undue attention to yourself; you are not making a “big to do” as you work on you. You are just doing the work for you.
That’s another plus worth celebrating.
Explore posts in the same categories: Motivation, Purpose
January 28th, 2006 at 2:32 pm
Don, you and Janet are right when it comes to folks not noticing what we are doing. And that’s ok.
I shaved off my beard (maybe to look a tad younger) a few months ago, no one has said a thing. I have started eating healthier (salads and the like), no one has really noticed.
When it comes to changing things, hopefully we are doing it for ourselves and not for the adoration from others. While it would be nice if someone would notice our improvements, it isn’t always that necessary. We change for ourselves, to make us happier, better, healthier and more alive.
Others can just look back later on to see how we’ve grown.
David
January 30th, 2006 at 8:21 am
Thanks, David, for sharing your story. So glad to hear that you are eating better!
I’m reminded of the late Ricky Nelson’s line in his “Garden Pary” song: “You can’t please everybody, so you got to please yourself.”
Improve your life, please yourself.
There’s a happy growth cycle!
Peace and progress!
Don