Before I even began thinking of the project that now has a name and an identity, and became Iridia Academy, there was an immense drive inside of me that became clearer by doing the mundane simple things in life. First of all, I'd like to take you back to a significant part of my personal journey.
The reason for this is because:
The context of these events will make it easier for you to eventually grasp where personal growth can possibly lead you to and why it is crucial for your own happiness in life.
It will help you to believe that it is mankind's nature to grow, not to be stagnant. It is important to note that you need to learn to listen to where your heart is trying to lead you. With all the other noise in the background of your mind, you can't hear this voice, and so, removing other pain points that are obvious, are best to start with as soon as you can. Get yourself back to a stable and balanced kind of life for yourself.
Anyone can do this no matter what their situation, location, or stage in life. There are no set rules, and everyone can approach it in whichever way they want, in whatever pace they want and in big or small steps.
With that being said, let's have a look at my past.
My life, several years ago, it's the year 2019: Working at a regular job where I dealt with a lot of customers, and spoke and saw many different people, but also the same people on the daily. I was simply living my life, working in order to make a living, just like the majority of us do, Basically, I was submitting myself to the system because I had no choice. I was in survival mode. During that time, it occurred to me that by being myself in the moment, I was doing something very interesting. My true nature within was somewhere between inspiring and motivating people—either for them to perform an action or moving them to making better, more positive decisions for themselves.
It didn't matter to me if I was dealing with a customer, a supervisor, or a coworker. Most of the conversations and interactions would often lead into big or small talk. Whenever somebody felt insecure, and they made it heard, I was never dismissive. Instead, I was encouraging and listened very closely because I wanted them to feel how great life can be if you only change your attitude and perception on life.
This for me was effortless. It gave me energy as I felt and saw the potential and dreams of people and I poked through the essence of their human selves, just to make them open up and reveal where they saw their happiness instead of the life they were currently living.
A few of these examples where I had such real interactions:
Person 1: was a dog person, not a people person, and went yearly on a voluntary basis to give stray dogs a new life and happy home (the lady was dealing with a negative family member and therefore didn't feel she had the support to follow her dream in doing what she loved permanently).
Person 2: wanted to start her own hairstyling business (but she was working in the same business for years on end).
Person 3: simply wanted to follow a popular diet and felt discouraged because of others telling them it would be an impossible thing to commit to (especially with the last one, I felt that personally as an attack and borderline toxicity since I was there when the conversation between these two people took place, and because of that, I could retaliate and stop the man's attempt on demotivating and projecting his own struggles onto another fellow human being).
It is sad, but true that some people lack the awareness or intentionally bring others down in order to feel better or above them. As you might realize, connecting with these people one on one was very intriguing to me. It occurred to me that by helping and supporting them on their dreams meant that we would eventually split ways. Nevertheless, I cared more and gained more on knowing and seeing that every one of them eventually went and chased those dreams and turned them into a reality.
Whoa, the passion I felt for doing that.
When I realized that I was naturally driven to motivate and want the best life for people around me who needed a supportive circle, this was the first step; something was there to explore!
What was actually brought to my attention at that moment in time:Coaching and teaching; inspiring others was definitely coming natural to me, and I loved it!Where I had been pursuing a dream of getting a job in the creative arts, this started to fade more and more to the background and I had a newfound passion that kept me going.Because I don't want to go in depth in this article specifically on my story, and instead, focus on what self-growth can really bring into your life, I’ll share some insight into where I came from in the points below.
The logical path down my own personal development went like this:
Gaining more self-awareness through mindfulness, daily check ins, keeping a notebook and exercises, disengaging negative thoughts and turning them into neutral thoughts. This was the kickstart into my personal development journey and helping me to become more aware of how much I was thinking of others, how they were thinking of me and how negative these thoughts actually were and taking me for a ride all day long uninterruptedly (That was a mind-blowing discovery).
Increasing positivity by spreading more positivity; being more open and friendly to others and transforming the negative thoughts into more positive ones (fake it until you make it, planning fun relaxation time after stressful events).
Becoming aware of personal struggles and hurdles, trauma experiences affecting life, negative experiences and patterns that stem since childhood.
Letting go of pre-existing religious practices as it existed and was taught from childhood and allowing it to transform into a true spiritual reconnection with the divine through exploration and discernment (what feels good, what doesn't).
Increasing self-healing through adopting a curiosity mindset and learning about psychology; seeking external professional help where guidance was needed (forms of therapy and meditation, learning and reading).
Reflecting on past relationships, taking the time to determine what went well and what didn't feel right, and deciding not to settle for anything but real love
Increasing self-image and love through taking better care of my physical health, (adopting a routine through weekly workouts) nutrition, and seeking new and elevated social connection.
Removing myself from circles that didn't affect me positively, along with learning about and setting healthy boundaries with others.
Increasing self-love and confidence through initiating new life experiences; turning around unhealthy patterns during the low times.
Starting new passion projects, building on it gradually and consistently, believing in myself and building on confidence.
Finding the right life partner and love of my life by being patient and choosing what I deserve.
These were legitimate steps I've taken in my personal journey in working on feeling better overall while believing in the fact that life still has a lot of beautiful things to offer. It was hard work, and despite sometimes not being able to see the top of the mountain, I never gave up.After exploring some of my personal experiences, and a little of my history, let's continue by bringing up the next question that most people certainly would like to have answered because that is initially the reason why I wanted to release an article about it.
So, what is self-development?
Let's cut to the facts for a moment because I realized that not everyone really understands what it actually means to get into self-development. They think it's either tied to one aspect of their life—possibly spiritually, physically, or mentally—or it's a very dreadful experience with a lot of pain and struggle, which, if I'm having to be honest, it can be. The real reason why I'm hoping you'll stick around with me is that it will most of all be incredibly rewarding as well, as long you don't give up on following your heart’s desire and fulfilling your life's purpose. In fact, it might not be taking you all that much time if you put your mind to it and stay dedicated.Factually, here's what is stated on Wikipedia:
'Personal development or self-improvement consists of activities that develop a person's capabilities and potential, build human capital, facilitate employability, enhance quality of life, and facilitate the realization of dreams and aspirations. Personal development may take place over the course of an individual's entire lifespan and is not limited to one stage of a person's life. It can include official and informal actions for developing others in roles such as teacher, guide, counselor, manager, coach, or mentor, and it is not restricted to self-help.'
Then, it proceeds to sum up a list of key factors that are at play when one gets into personal or self-development.
1. Improving self-knowledge
2. Improving self-awareness
3. Improving skills and/or learning new ones
4. Building or renewing identity/self-esteem
5. Developing strengths or talents
6. Identifying or improving potential
7. Enhancing lifestyle and/or the quality of life and time management calculating the return on time invested.
8. Improving health
9. Improving wealth or social status
10. Fulfilling aspirations
11. Initiating a life enterprise
12. Defining and executing personal development plans (PDPs)
13. Improving social relations or emotional intelligence
14. Spiritual identity development and recognition
As you can see, personal development encompasses so many different aspects of life that it's very unlikely you'll ever stop learning.
And that makes it also a lot of fun!
From a certain point in my life, I started to feel the strong need to start looking into many aspects of myself that could use some improvement because I believed in a better quality of life. I wanted this. I continuously saw my life improving over time, and that was very addictive.
Does this mean that you need to approach life the same way that I do or anyone else does?
Obviously not, let's just debunk that right now. I told you before, there are no written rules for how you approach your own growth. I am merely hoping to inspire you through my writing and experiences.
Starting simple and small will get you a long way, along with incorporating easy routines and working on bad habits. This alone will help you already improve so much. For example, by creating a plan for emergencies, in case of being tired or down and not feeling like going to the gym, you can help yourself by making agreements such as: “I will still pack my things and go there and will do a shorter routine today.” By the time you're already there, you'll probably feel like not doing half the work. Life hacks like these will definitely help you move forward in life because at least you are getting consistency and keep on showing up.
Personal routines are very good and will bring you great peace of mind. Another plus to exploration on your journey is the more you experience, the more you learn about yourself! Your needs, your wants, your natural abilities, and more all come to you. For me, this has brought immense joy into my life up to the point where I was feeling very content with what I had accomplished. Now having looked at what personal development consists of, let's also view what it doesn't look like. What I'd like to share as well is that there are some misconceptions about self-development and they are very important to mention.
What are pitfalls and does not fall under personal development, thus improvement and positive growth?
1. There's no rule book, how-to-method or course that will guarantee you a better life, (don't allow anyone to tell you otherwise, those are mostly sales pitches) but these are tools that can help you forward.
2. Competing with others—looking externally is not going to help because no one is living the same life as you, so determining your progress of where you are in comparison to others can only work for a moment.
3. Spiritual awakening can be a part of your journey, but it also takes some work to explore your newfound self. It's only the beginning.
4. Entitlement (you're a better person than anyone else because of all that you've accomplished).
5. A group activity that includes others and has your progress determined by other people (It's a self-centered journey, this can't involve others).
6. Narcissism/delusional thoughts that elevate you above others (extreme example: you've had a calling from God, which shows you that you are a supreme being who should start a new religion)
7. Dismissing anything you've previously worked on, meaning that you stay open to learn from whatever is sent your way because each and every situation is something that you can learn from even if you've already been there
8. Loving others and placing yourself last (it is all great if you want to help other people, but it is not a good thing when it is at the cost of your own health, happiness, and energy).
9. Harsh judgement—moving ahead in life is no free pass to judge others on where they are in their life. Be careful on handing out advice when you know you still have a lot that you can learn. It's always best to share from your own perspective and to not disregard whatever another person is experiencing. Stay respectful.
10. Arrogance—with more quality of life, there comes a side effect which is more increased confidence. However, there is a distinction between those two. Confidence is not at the expense of others where arrogance will be a boastful attitude with no experience and accomplishment. This thinking will most likely disregard everyone and everything around them.
After that, it leads me up to the final question I wanted to cover. One that should definitely not be overlooked.Why should we develop ourselves as human beings? Development and growth is not solely for the good of yourself. It is going to affect everyone and everything around you positively. You will, simply put, start to live the life that you always had the potential of living. You'll start to notice this as soon as you decide to go down this path, there are only wins, despite challenges. Development or betterment of oneself is going to also affect all of us on a larger scale in all areas of life.
Imagine if everyone followed their heart’s desire.
It's important to note that development is not only determining the quality of your own life, but along with that the quality of life universally for everyone on the planet. It can be either positive or negative too. Areas among others that developments are seen on a larger scale and globally over ages time:
Science
Sports
Healthcare
Spirituality
Technology
Society
There's many more that you can probably already think of. With these last words, I'd like to conclude my article by leaving you a quote that contains a lot of wisdom.'There will be no end to the troubles of states, or of humanity itself, till philosophers become kings in this world, or till those we now call kings and rulers really and truly become philosophers.'—PlatoI truly believe that self-growth is going to bring us to a better society and together—a better world. It is doable, but it starts with you.
Become the leader of your own life and start today.
Last notes:
My recommendation for a movie that is about development, go watch The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty, starring Ben Stiller.
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