Most of our lives we are taught and learn very well to live according to the expectations that others set for us.
When I say “others” I am referring to all the people in our lives who we love, respect and who we believe have our best interest in mind. As children this is an invaluable and important part of the process of growth and development. However, the truth of the matter is that whether we like it or not, the evolutionary process of human development dictates that we don’t remain children, teenagers and young adults all of our lives.
For this we can be grateful.
Although honestly speaking, there are those times in our lives as adults when we wish we could be children once again. Of course it’s actually those innocent and carefree aspects of being children that we long for from time to time.
As we move through the different stages of our lives, we all do a bit of changing over time; some of us much more than others.
As we reflect on how we change over time, life often beckons us to remember the simple truth that “the only thing constant in life is change.” Life is fluid and change is inevitable. So it should come as no surprise to us that over time, as we are tempered by our own varied life experiences, the expectations and desires we once had change over time as well.
As we grow and mature in our lives, let us have the courage to embrace and honor our changed expectations and desires.
And let us do so even when we realize they are now different from those we received and adopted for ourselves from others in our life who may have meant us well. Let us instead expect that there will come a time in our lives when we will have to choose to embrace and honor our true selves and our different and changed life expectations and desires. Even when we know fully well that they no longer line up with what others expected for and from us.
And herein lies the encouragement and motivation for you to “have courage”.
Have the courage required to be true to who and how you are in the world no matter what. Have the courage to live your life according to your current expectations and desires that your life experiences have now created for you. And remember always, that those in your life who truly love and respect you will continue to do so although in some instances the relationship may change a bit because remember, you have changed a bit. (Side note: this of course is excluding the chance that your new expectations and desires include bringing harm to yourself and or others, in that case all bets are off and you can expect that your relationships with others are going to change swiftly and drastically as they should might I add! I’m just saying). Otherwise dear reader, choose to make peace with all the aspects of your “changed” and “different” self.
