Have you ever been doing something and you questioned whether any results would come. You questioned whether you were growing, or was any real change there? For instance, you start a workout plan, or change your eating habits, and you wonder will you ever look any different. Or maybe like me, you’ve been reading, studying, trying to grow and you wonder has there been any real growth in my life? Sometimes the results are not immediately seen, but trust me, they’re there. Someday you just may have an epiphany like I recently have, where you look back and see just how far you’ve come!
Life has been full of difficult situations the past couple of years. I had to ready my parents home to sell, my childhood home. Those were long dark days. My relationship with my step-daughter deteriorated right before my eyes with no warning. Then came COVID and all that entailed, a change of job I didn’t see coming, and this year my father-in-law’s brain cancer diagnosis. To top that off, we received a phone call last week that is going to forever change our lives and that of people we love.
Ever since 2019, I have had this nagging gut feeling, that I couldn’t even describe to my friends and family, that I was about to have some real life changes, that I was being called for something bigger and I began my journey of growth, and of learning, and on working on myself. Like so many other people, life has thrown some really hard things at me. Some I have handled well, others I have not. Some I have handled with grace, and some I am still to this day embarrassed about the way I handled; however, with each one I learned. I recently heard someone say that I win or I learn, but I never lose. There’s power in those words.
I have often wondered lately, has any of the long hours I have spent reading books and watching webinars and attending endless amounts of classes done anything in me to where I have seen real results. I am sure you have felt that way at some point in your life and wondered is what I am doing making any difference. I have to say though, it dawned on me this morning that as I look back over the past year, I have come a great long way!
I am tired today, mentally and physically tired, but I am proud of the way I have handled a situation lately. The phone call we received last week, if that had come two years ago, or even a year ago, it would have spiraled me into a tailspin, but it didn’t. I grieved about it for 24 hours, I cried about it and in anger got some stuff off of my chest, but got up and went into we’ll deal with this mode. I reached out to a couple of friends and family, unloaded, or maybe I dumped on them, but then it’s not been talked about in great detail again. The old Shauna would not have handled it well at all. The old Shauna would have been selfish in the way she handled it, but I have come to realize lately that things don’t just happen to me, they happen for me. In every thing, there is a reason. In every thing, there is an opportunity for growth.
Why do I say all of that? Well, to answer my own question, yes I have grown in amazing ways. My reading and my learning and working on myself has paid off in great dividends. Is this to say that going forward I will handle every situation or hard thing that is thrown at me perfectly with grace? No! I am human, like you, and we will still have things we don’t handle well, but when you can look back and see how far you’ve come, that brings a joy to your soul that you cannot even explain. We must learn in the times we don’t handle a situation well to simply show ourselves some grace, dust ourselves off, and get back up. Trust me when I tell you, everybody messes up, we are just not always privy to see it! Some people hide it well, but they have stuff just like the rest of us! Don’t be fooled by a person’s actions and appearances that they handle everything perfectly.
Here’s why I write to you today on this subject. Don’t ever give up on your journey just because you don’t see immediate change! Don’t give up on working on yourself! Don’t give up getting up every single day determined to add value to others. Don’t give up on continually working on yourself! The race isn’t for the swiftest but for the one who is consistent. Even if you see absolutely no results right now, I promise you will if you just keep on! Keep getting up, wiping off the stuff life throws your way and keep your blinders focused forward! We’re not permanently stuck anywhere! There’s always a way out! Sometimes we may just have to look harder, look foolish in the process, not care and keep running the race.
Wherever you find yourself today, please don’t throw in the towel! Real results are on the other side of hard!
With love for you all,
Shauna
Shauna's Sisters 