I came across a very interesting though this week from Ordinary Comics, “When you begin not liking the shoes that you used to wear all the time, it means that something in you have [has] changed.” Which makes shoes a great indicator for growth, I guess. Here’s my personal list of things of events that have happened to me that has moved me towards growth, in a way, I guess, and they may even be true for you. (Life’s funny like that.)
Losing a relative. I admit, I’ve lost a couple of loved ones to sickness quite a few times already, and its never gotten any easier over the years. I remember thinking “I’m strong, I’m strong…” but then some days I just wake up with my pillow wet from tears.
Falling and fooling (and failing!) in love. Remember your first love? This is funny, I remember thinking the world of this guy, and then, some conflict comes up, and I would end up crying myself to sleep! --- Four, five years later, still can’t forget the guy, but I can now laugh at how I used to think that was “real” love. Now I think that I’m smarter, I’ve made a couple of mistakes, but then I don’t know everything, love’s still a big giant mystery that I bite at, one nibble at a time.
Graduation. High school or college graduation, it doesn’t matter --- it’s a great barometer for how far any one is in life. It’s so weird to think about how life used to be soooooo hard way back in high school, well, until the real world ate up my friends and jobs and bills and such started popping up. Graduation meant that, right after the ceremonies, your parents and relatives are going to take you out to dinner, or maybe meet up with a couple of friends because, according to John Mayer, “there’s no such thing as the real world.” Well, until you get to it.
First job / First paycheck. Having a job is super-different from being an intern --- when you make a mistake, you’re not risking a grade at school, but instead, you get a sense of what great potential for greatness and destruction you are. Then movies like “Office Space” start making sense all of a sudden.
First time out of the country, alone. I have some friends who’ve done this ---- left the country all alone to pursue their studies and whatnot, and here I was worried over the planning, packing and how I’ll get to coordinate the things I want with people who don’t speak my language.
First extreme sport. Learning a new sport isn’t just for recreation, really. That’s what I learned from my first bungee jump. It scared the bejeezus out of me, but it proved a point that I really could DO anything I put my mind to, plus, I really could face my fears. (And maybe not die from it?)
Now I could think up other firsts but then they’d only overlap with the values that I’ve learned from all the various things I’ve just put up. That’s not to say I’m a full grown up yet, far, far from it --- because sometimes I think that being a grown-up means that I get have ice cream for dinner, and no one would say otherwise. :)
