I have been thinking about starting a new series on Curated by Courtney about self-help and self-awareness for quiet some time now. Since I was young I have had a passion for helping others. I love talking to friends, family, even strangers and helping them have realizations which change their lives. When I began my college years at Texas Tech I originally majored in Psychology. I ended up switching my major to Public Relations because long-term schooling did not seem like the right path for me, but I do have a big background in Psychology. I love the ability to help people “figure it out”. So it all makes sense that I have wanted to start a series like this.
So, here we go- my first self-help post! I would love your suggestions for future posts so feel free to comment below or email me at courtney@curatedbycourtney.com if they are too personal. My vision for Wednesday Wisdom is to deep-dive into a quote and expand upon it’s meaning and how you can apply this to your daily life. Self awareness is a huge component of a healthy, happy, and all around full life. Self-growth is something you should work on everyday. If you are thinking, “I have myself figured out, I don’t need any of this”, you are living in complacency. Complacency: a feeling of being satisfied with how things are and not wanting to try to make them better. You will never live a full life if you never try to better yourself. So listen up.
“I’m thankful for my struggle because without it I wouldn’t have stumbled across my strength.”
Life is all about perspective. Let me re-phrase that, life is all about your perspective. When challenge, struggles, road bumps, mishaps, mistakes, whatever you want to call them, come your way, you have two choices. You can look at this situation as a way to learn, grow, understand and change yourself, or you can self-pity, pout, whine, and go down a dark rabbit hole of being upset. Something I want to preface, there are situations in life which are legitimate struggles and you can be sad about real problems. These are not the situations I am referring to. You are smart enough to determine what is a real struggle and what is not.
If you want to better your life I suggest looking at your struggles with perspective number one. You define yourself as a person by how you react to situations. Some of the hardest times in my life were the best thing that ever happened to me. You read that correctly.
My entire life I always struggled with self-image. Many girls can relate and I am sure they will tell you it sucks. Looking at yourself in a negative light everyday is nothing I would ever wish upon anyone. After years of self-pity, bullying, shamefulness, and overall unhappiness with my outer self, I completely turned my life around. I found my struggle (my outerself), stumbled upon a solution (health and well being), and turned it into my strength (a passion for bettering the human body). I developed a love for internal wellness, one of my biggest strengths now! While it is hard to look back on the years I spent being unhappy with myself, with perspective, I learned this time was a true testimonial to who I was supposed to grow into today. After continually applying myself I have a wealth of knowledge on how to live a nutritious and fruitful life. I even share this knowledge with all my friends and family until they tell me to stop blabbering their ear off.
Look at yourself. What are you struggling with today? What can you do to change it? How can you make your struggle your strength? You can do it, my friend! Today is the day to add to your skill resume.