REINVENTING ONESELF. While flipping through a Dutch Vogue magazine, I saw lifestyles. Yes lifestyles, so colorful, so relaxing and equally fulfilling. Everything, from fashion, traveling, food, technology to lifestyle and class. These powerful pictures were struggling for space in my mind, that a long over due wakefulness suddenly birthed itself. An awakening, I had dreamt about but unable to bring myself to luxuriate in, due to the fact that, Im so captivated in the desire to make lofty salary. This same awakening got me so restless, I felt a strong urge of now is the time to reinvent myself, instead of chasing six figure salary, that will eventually sap me out anyway. Working and earning a comfortable six-figure salary but not happy, might prompt you to want to look inward and reinvent yourself, your lifestyle and start doing those things youve always wanted to do, apart from your usual salary earning job. Simple things like traveling, going on a cruise, walking in the wilderness and enjoying the sight and getting fit at the same time. Joining a community of like-minded individuals can help too. Hanging out with others who have the same short or long-term goal, will increase your activation and engagement in achieving your desires. These kind of people can also serve as great sources of knowledge and wisdom. Research has shown that, intrinsically motivated people, who work toward things they find personally fulfilling, are less depressed and more satisfied with their lives than those who are extrinsically motivated, striving primarily to impress the outside world with a big paycheck or lofty job title. Intrinsically motivated people are also more likely to achieve personal goals. Do not forget that, The ever-shifting self, will dream of a future thats very different from ones present situation. One may like to live abroad instead of where one lives presently; some of us will want to abandon single hood for family life et al. But getting from here to there is hard, largely because some powerful psychological forces align against reinvention. So in order to get out of this cycle in which you are sick, broke, lonely, or just plain unfulfilled. One must learn some key things. **We have to modify our identities as we go through life, proving in the process that its never too late to reinvent oneself, no matter the age, People can resolve to make themselves more the people they would like to become, only if they are determined to. **Before you can reinvent yourself, you have to know who you currently are. People need to understand their strengths, their weaknesses, their passions, and their own story. Then they can look at whats going on in the world and try to match themselves up to opportunities. This is what I call, self-evaluation. Most of us have a tendency towards illusory superiority, which is, the belief that we are above average in our abilities, even though all of us cant possibly be. Thats why its crucial to be brutally honest as you assess yourself and the effort needed to achieve the reinvention you seek. **Discuss your dreams with people who care about you and know you well, and whom you trust to be honest with you about your strengths and weaknesses. They can help you gauge your skills and pinpoint your true passions. **In order to reinvent oneself properly, one needs to find concordance between what really matters to one and the goals one chases. But too often our future plans are overly influenced by other peoples input—the best friend who begs you to join her start-up or the mother who desperately wants a grandchild. These external pressures can detach one from ones core values. If you dont go through a process of self-discovery, but just accept others decisions, in some years later you might find yourself saying, I dont think thats me. It is true that, theres an early period of volatility when youre changing your behavior. It takes a lot of mental energy and planning and playing around with your schedule. Thats one reason, it is advisable to go after one major goal at a time. To stay positive and motivated, seek ways to track your accomplishments as you go. Studies have shown that if you write down a goal, youre more likely to achieve it. Even if your goals are more nebulous in nature, that doesnt mean you cant self-assess. A diary in which you record each week the steps youve taken, and the distance theyve taken you from your first entry, can be surprisingly effective in maintaining your vigor. And, of course, you have to expect obstacles. Life has a habit of throwing curveballs. Its a mistake to believe we have so much control. The best laid plans can go awry, and we need to be prepared for that too. Begin to do those things that will help raise your energy level positively. Life is too short not to unbridle all we have in us. .......................Voice of Yemi Michael.
Posted on: Sat, 02 Aug 2014 01:33:46 +0000
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