When you think about personal growth, what comes to your mind? Do you envision attaining a certain fitness level, holding a coveted job or finally being able to go on a date alone? In my book, "Time for mom-Me", I describe personal growth as the following: "Personal growth is recognizing that we have the capacity to be more of who we are.
It is understanding that each of us has the ability to grow, enhance and evolve as woman.
When we grow, we are able to enrich those around us as well as ourselves.
We are able to work toward our goal of personal excellence and expand our gifts, talents and potential.
" Being a mother is challenging isn't it? Managing the transition from woman with no children to mom with children and then to mom with children out of the nest makes us all scratch our head at times.
Over the years one thing that I have consistently committed to has been my own personal growth.
I have found that creating a strong personal core that includes downtime for me to try to improve my golf game (pray for me) and read books I enjoy without characters named Elmo, Barney, Kitty and Darth has given me insight about other aspects of my life that I needed to work on.
For example, when I was pregnant with my youngest son Matthew, I decided that that by the time Matthew turned four I would transition back to work full-time.
In preparation for this I took on smaller client loads and wrote my book which allowed me to be home more for my children at the end of their school day.
Had I not considered what I wanted for my life plan three years ago, I would not have been able to create a simple plan to work toward my goals in a way that works for my life.
Make sense? Anything that we want in life is attainable with a life plan.
This week consider your own personal growth.
Take a moment and review my mom-Me Wheel of Life to include: Financial - Enhancing the economic security and increasing awareness of the family's financial picture.
Work/Career - Establishing opportunities that allow us to express ourselves productively either in or outside of the home.
Hobbies/Recreation - Creating meaningful channels that allow us to express our passion(s) and stay connected to our interest.
Health - Maintaining good physical health by utilizing exercise, relieve stress and reduce anxiety.
Relational - Establishing supportive networks that validate you and provide resources for living your best life.
Personal - Creating opportunities to feel, express, enjoy.
Service - Creating a life that has meaning and value that allows us to support our family but leaves evidence of living fully.
Spiritual - Creating a means to refuel spiritually by being reflective, prayerful, or engaging in a fellowship of worship.
Consider each of these areas of your life and ask yourself the following: 1.
What would I like to improve in this area of my life? 2.
What can I do to enhance one of these areas - today? 3.
What plan can I commit to in this area of personal growth? Personal growth determines our willingness to make small changes everyday in our lives.
For example, if you want to be healthier, start by adding one piece of fruit to your diet each day.
Once you are successful, add a short walking routine after dinner or in the morning for thirty minutes or less.
Once you have achieved this success, add ankle weights to your walking routine.
Remember, to get the result we want we only need to take small steps to manifest change.
What do you want your life to look like in twenty years? Think about it.
Live fully, Mia