I heard something so profound today:
“It’s not about achieving the goal, it’s all about who you become in the process.”
And just like that, I realized that I’ve been missing a very important piece of the puzzle all this time.
There have been many journeys and roads taken in my life, with the biggest ones still yet to come. All bringing with them their own trials and challenges. Some were accomplished and some are still a work in progress, but I realize now that my focus has been on the wrong thing. That being, that all I was doing was thinking about the end game, and how the success or failure would mark the importance of the event. Yet, I never stopped to think about whether I learned, changed or moved myself in any way at all, throughout the process.
As human beings all we think about is that thing we are trying to get. But maybe, the only reason the goal, journey or road was put in our way in the first place was to expand our horizons – and not to necessarily achieve what we set out to. If we understand this, then the success or failure of that thing isn’t important. What matters is that we changed in the pursuit of that thing.
The most important thing to remember is that we have a lifetime to achieve everything we want, and if we keep at it and persevere, there is absolutely no reason why we can’t have what we’re after. But what would it all matter anyway, if we didn’t become more of who we are? After all, isn’t that the actual purpose of being here? To vibrate at a higher frequency continuously.
At 47, what shouldn’t I know by now? But, I think, (in some magical way) later in life is when you learn the most about yourself and things around you. It is at this time when things count and mean the most.
So, the real thing that we may need to be asking ourselves is when we set goals for ourselves, why are we doing so? Not just fundamentally why, but foundationally why. What’s the root of it all?
Same thing should be done when we face unforeseen obstacles or challenges in our lives. We need to sit with it for a while and dissect it – every bit of it. Try to see it for what it is and try to understand what we can gain from it. Who will we become? Who will we be on the other side of this story?
We should all have the willingness to grow, but the desire to be better should be the key factor to why we do anything at all.
If you truly think about it for a second, it all makes sense.
If we are all energy sources in this universe, and abundant souls created, then learning and evolving is our only key focus in this life. So, it’s not about the possessions we could have or all the places we could travel too. It’s not just about all the things we can see, work or build on. It’s about asking will these experiences change me and make me better if I do them. If yes, how?
Think about life in a general sense for a minute. 2 people, 2 lives, ultimately similar. One life, where the individual freely goes about it and successfully obtains all their goals. They are obtained easily and comfortably, repeatedly, throughout their entire lifetime. Then, at the end of their life they can’t say much about it. Sure, they were successful, but nothing phased them, changed them, enlightened them. They didn’t set out to be humble but hungry in their mindsets, they didn’t feel the need to take those successes and make the world better/easier for others, nothing challenged them, and no fears were overcome. It was a successful life in theory but a pretty empty one.
The second life was the complete opposite. You chose goals to go after because they would challenge the person you were. That dominating them may mean facing horrible fears you’ve always had about yourself. But, in the end, even if you didn’t attain that goal, you fear was less frightening, and you grew in confidence that the next time you attempted something – it would be just a little less scary. That no matter what you set out to do or what obstacles came your way, you always found a way to demand greatness of yourself in the process, because you learned from all the times and experiences before, that there is without question greatness within you. That all your journeys (whether obtained or not) you always elevated the person you were, to become something more.
The more I grow, the more I realize how much learning I still have left to do. I pray that I have enough time left in my life to see all things differently, clearly and apply them to my story.
