Leveling Up

Summary

Stacy reflects on personal growth and the process of "leveling up" in life, particularly as she approaches a significant birthday, considering the changes she's made and the progress yet to achieve.

Abstract

As Stacy nears a decade birthday, she contemplates the evolution of her life, recognizing the importance of intentional changes she's made over the past years. These changes include enhancing her presentation skills, engaging in continuous learning, and actively participating in organizations that foster leadership and public speaking. Despite facing challenges where she feels the need to repeatedly "prove" herself, Stacy acknowledges her increased self-awareness and the subtle yet significant impact of her ongoing education, especially in psychology. While she doesn't dwell on her past, she is fully immersed in her current life and acknowledges that her future direction remains somewhat vague, prompting her to refine her goals before her next milestone birthday.

Opinions

Stacy believes that significant life events, such as a new job or personal milestones like marriage or parenthood, are clear indicators of life changes.
She values the act of reflecting on her life's trajectory, especially around her birthday, as a way to measure personal growth.
Stacy places importance on intentional self-improvement, which includes refining her personal presentation, acquiring new skills, and maintaining involvement in various organizations.
She feels that her past experiences are often disregarded and that she must consistently demonstrate her capabilities to new groups of people.
Stacy views her continuous learning, particularly in sewing, drawing, electronics, and psychology, as a subtle yet transformative force in her life.
She does not miss her past life eras, indicating a strong preference for her current life situation.
Stacy is aware that her current activities may not be directly propelling her towards a clear future goal, which she identifies as a area for further development.

Leveling Up

When does life feel like the same old thing and when do you know it’s changing? An obvious answer might be a new job, whether at a different company or current company with a new position. Other examples might be getting married or having your first child.

It’s natural, at least to me, to reflect on where I’m at and where I want to be. I do it regularly and especially as it gets closer to my birthday. My age is a mark on the wall. I can see the actual changes, just like if you ever marked changes in height growing up. This particular year is a decade birthday. Even though every birthday is important, it’s kind of a big deal to me because I haven’t had decade birthday celebrations as an adult. For 30 and 40, I was married and my ex-husband only put importance on his own celebrations. That’s partially why I’ve made a point of doing something every year, usually with friends. The last few years have been quieter. This is a tangent, though, so back to the point.

As I reflect most recently, I wonder if it’s become the same old thing or not. At the end of my last decade, I made some intentional changes. Because of that, I worked at improving general presentation skills as far as how I present myself. This is definitely ongoing. Making it intentional has meant choosing my wardrobe differently, being involved in a variety of organizations that cater to leadership, communications and public speaking skills. It’s meant returning to or staying in school. It’s meant learning how to take care of myself and live on my own, with or without help from friends. As a result, I have increased my self-awareness.

Every time I meet a new group of people I have to “prove” myself. Previous experience doesn’t matter until I’ve shown through actions that I have the skills. The environment has truly mattered because some people recognize what I do and others still call me “girl” or “the baby” when I am neither. If I’m spending all of this time “proving” does that mean I’m in the same old pattern?

It’s the intentional parts of my life that seem to help me the most. For example, I’ve been intentionally getting rid of things, and it is a little bit more obvious in my studio apartment and definitely different than 10 years ago.

Another example is continuously learning new things. Lately, it’s been

sewing related, drawing, and a little bit of electronics.

Throughout the last 10 years, learning has been through organizations or school. These are constants. Has it been a game changer? Are things different because of what I’ve been learning? I would say “yes” and that it’s subtle. The big game changer has been studying psychology. I want to study it more, and write more.

What I have also noticed is that I am totally engrossed in my current life. I may refer to past examples and the examples might refer to when I was married or living elsewhere. I don’t miss any of those past eras (other than some of the people).

Maybe the most important question is if what I’m doing now will get me further on the path towards where I want to be. This is still a big question mark. Why? Because where I want to be is vague. You know the goals you always get asked about? Then you make a plan for that with shorter and longer term items? I see those as being vague in every aspect of my life. So, as far as leveling up, I have some work to do before my birthday. How about you?

Thanks for reading!

Stacy

Originally published at sundayswithstacy.wordpress.com on August 12, 2018.