Let them judge the old version of you! That’s not who you are anymore!

Do you have people in your life who still judge you by your past? People who still judge you by the old you? People who want to keep everyone reminded of those things you did to keep a poor opinion of you out there? You are the exact person I want to speak to today! We all have people that don’t see us now, who don’t see the change, who don’t see the growth, who don’t give us the benefit of the doubt that we have even changed and grown! Everybody wants to judge people on the past version that they know rather than seeing the possibility that maybe that person isn’t the same person they once knew. I know it can be difficult! I have dealt with it, and continue to deal with it. Here’s a secret though. Not everybody has to see how far we’ve come! It’s okay that people don’t know the version of us now! It’s okay if they want to judge our past. Here’s a thought. There are people who may see the change in you but wouldn’t give you credit if it killed them! You know why? They don’t want to see a better version of you. Their story is better when they talk about your faults. Here’s where I am at though. Only God knows the real me, and truly that’s all that matters!

I am sure there are people in your life who know the good, the bad and the ugly and love you in spite of those things because they know they are not perfect either! Those are the people we should focus on! That’s who we want in our lives! We should stop focusing on playing it small, keeping our focus on people, but rather focus on being better every day. We should focus on growth! We should focus on using our gifts and talents to add value to other people every single day! You see those things that you might be embarrassed about, those things you wish people didn’t know, those things can be turned around and used for good, and used to help other people in the same situation! It’s easy to be sympathetic for somebody, but until you truly understand it, it’s harder for us to help Most times we have to experience things ourself to truly understand somebody. Use those scars from your past to make a difference for somebody else! Let there be a purpose to your pain!

We must realize that here will always be people who misunderstand us and who think we should be ashamed of our past. The beautiful thing though is that our past and our scars can be turned into something so great if we allow it! Nobody has to stay the same! Nobody! You don’t have to stay the same! I haven’t stayed the same! I have been doing the work to do what I’m talking about here! I know my shortcomings! I know those things I’m embarrassed about, and those things I wish I had never done, but I can’t go back and change the past! I only have a future and I can make a difference there! If you woke up this morning, if you took another breath today, you have one more opportunity for growth! You have one more opportunity to make some changes in your life if you need to! You you have one more opportunity to make some wrongs right! You have many more opportunities to change your world!

Why not live life to the fullest? Why not apologize if you need to? Why not be better and make a difference? Why not truly live out your God-given purpose for being on this earth? We can make excuses all day long but that will simply keep us stuck and complacent and not living life to the fullest! Know none of us are perfect! We all do and say things that we don’t like about ourselves. We all have habits that we want to break! How about showing yourself some mercy and then getting to work on changing those things! If you find yourself being too judgemental, stop yourself when you start to say something to somebody else. If you gossip too much, stop yourself before you gossip about somebody else. We all have the opportunity to change, grow, be better and be different! We all have the opportunity to build people up with our words, not tear them down. This world is full of critics, don’t be one!

There’s a lot of things about myself that I work on daily, that I’m not proud of, and that I want to change! I continually ask God for help! I read, I practice a pause, I try every day to set out to live a life adding value to other people. I try really hard to be a plus rather than being a minus in others lives! So you might have a past too that has some things you’re not proud of. Stop listening to others and focusing so much on that, and rather spend more time in your day focusing on your future! I believe anybody can change! You know why I believe that? Because I have!

With love for you all,

Shauna