What is your proudest life achievement?
A friend and I were talking about being working moms with young boys and how our priorities have significantly changed since becoming mothers. We were reminiscing about career accomplishments and how work was such a main focus for us in our early twenties. Now that we are both in our early thirties… career accomplishments are pale in comparison to personal accomplishments.
My friend asked me - “what is your proudest life achievement, and you can’t say anything from work?”
Ughh… Hmm… that is so hard!
My answer was, I think that I actually know who I am now. After everything I’ve learned and experienced in my 31 years, I feel really proud that I know who I am.
There have been many times I’ve felt lost, that I’ve been in way over my head, and that I’ve projected myself being someone who has it all put together when I actually have no idea what the hell I am doing. For some reason, over the past few years, I believe that I’ve finally arrived at “who I am.”
Saying out loud that I know who I am was so incredibly empowering and validating.
I believe that I have solid values that I evaluate my life and my decisions with. I have picked the priorities in my life that I feel really matter and I spend my time around those priorities. I’ve shed relationships and friendships that no longer align with who I am. I’ve also put myself in uncomfortable situations to see if I liked those things or learned what I really did not like. I’ve also had a huge amount of personal growth through significant life changes in this most recent year. Our family has grown with the gift of our son and our family has also suffered profound loss.
Each of those life changing events has impact and offers a gift of reflection. Am I spending my very limited resource of time on the right things? Am I prioritizing what is actually important to me or what is expected of me, or even what looks good? Being to able to have clear answers on those questions that I am truly proud of is because I know who I am.
Her question to me was so timely as I am currently reading the new Sahil Bloom The 5 Types of Wealth book which gives a fresh perspective on how you identify and prioritize your life’s wealth.
I loved the opportunity to reflect and the conversation with my friend. Let me know what you are reflecting on in the comments!
