Edward-o Cummings wrote it beautifully, much like all of his other writings, “It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are”. Fortunately, while we venture in life – every decision, action, and future plan is a part of growing up. It takes courage to move forward and ultimately… move on. To leave behind whatever it is you need to grow from.
Sometimes in the moment, we don’t realize how badly we actually need to step away from a situation, a relationship, a job…. the list could go on, but you get the jist.
Recently transferring schools, I had a complete shift in my responsibilities and priorities. I started commuting to school, which was seriously a struggle when it came to hearing that dreaded alarm go off at 4:30am just so I could beat the busy commuters traffic. Once this really started to become a routine in my week, I found myself creating really bad habits; not preparing any food for both commute days… which in turn made me spend too much on food, drinking WAY too much coffee, not drinking enough water, and definitely not getting enough sleep. This completely threw me off. Not only did this affect my physical health, but also my mental health. Having classes only two days per week, I would get home and think to myself, “ahhh… I have the rest of the week to do my readings!”
Then Sunday rolls around…
Panic sets in. I left it until the last minute, I need to go to bed at a good time tonight in order to wake up at a good time in order to get to school on time, so I don’t fail my classes, so my body doesn’t hate me……. *SLOW…. CLAP….CLAP…*
Then the Ontario college strike rolls around…
At this point, vacation mode had set in and my books were left in my backpack to collect dust. One week, two weeks, now three weeks… the strike still hadn’t ended. My laziness had only heightened to new levels, and my eating habits had seriously taken a turn for the worst. My bank account started slowly reducing, and my part time job had just barely begun (that I ended up quitting two weeks later) *QUE SMALL VIOLIN PLAYING*
Foggy, I woke up one morning and read the time on my phone – 12pm.
Where has my motivation gone? The months leading up to school, I was so passionate in my thinking and so excited for the school year to begin so I could clean up my act. I could finally set up a schedule for myself.
Unfortunately (but also – thank goodness for these moments), sometimes we just need to let reality sink in and alter where we’re at – with a little bit of courage.
I sort of just trailed off into a rant, but with that being said… here are #10ReasonsWhy it takes courage to (and will continue to) grow up and become who you are:
1. Struggles are inevitable (keep trying, pushing and struggling.. even if you don’t have a clue what your goal is yet)
2. As much courage as it takes to speak up, it also takes just as much to sit down and listen.. Thanks Winston Churchill 😉
3. Admit to your mistakes, you’ll feel a heck of a lot lighter
4. Courage defines all other human behaviour
5. You’ll be surprised with how many unlikely places courage is hidden
6. Courage is strengthened by use… so freaking use it!
7. You’ll be encouraged to act instead of react
8. Concern for keeping your “reputation” will dwindle (in the best way possible)
9. You’ll learn to ‘saddle up anyways’.. even if you feel like you’re going to pee your pants in fear
10. The opposite of courage is *gulp* conformity… and let’s be real, where’s the fun in doing what everyone else is doing?
It’s a learning process. Embrace it!
Bye for now friends,
Lizzie
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