With Soul: It's not Easier, You're Stronger
4 Signs You're doing better than you give yourself credit for
Happy Monday, Friends!
We spent our Saturday kicking off the sixth year on my brother’s boat. Starting at the dock slip, we cruised the gentle waves from Huntington Harbor, along the slowly eroding shores of Northport, and over to Centre Island (aka the “that’s Billy Joel’s House” harbor) where we enjoyed sandwiches and good conversation.
Everything about the day was easy- from our drive to the conversation to the cooking at the end of the night. I don’t think it was this natural six years ago, and I’m grateful for how far we’ve all come. Sitting here now, reminiscing on the day, I can’t help but wonder if life has gotten easier, or if we’ve just learned how to deal with it better.
Personal growth is a series of small changes. Oftentimes, we only see it in retrospect; we’ll be presented with a problem or difficult life occurrence, and how we handle it will change. It can be difficult to identify our growth as a tangible thing since it’s so subtle, but here are four signs you’re growing.
Situations seem easier to deal with.
In life, situations don’t get easier- you become more equipped to deal with them. If you’re finding yourself becoming more pragmatic, more rational, and less reactive, you’re finding yourself in a pattern of healing. You are establishing your boundaries, prioritizing yourself, and shifting your mindset to see that only certain things are worth your time and energy. If situations aren’t getting easier, it might be time to evaluate why.
You Prioritize Balance, aka- you say “No”
If you once did a year of “yes”, you might be on the other side now. After saying “yes” to opportunities, stepping outside your comfort zone, and more, now you’re prioritizing balance. You’re looking at your options and only saying “yes” to things you truly care about or are passionate about. Saying “no” means you’re prioritizing your self care, and your time. This doesn’t mean say “no” to everything, it means that you’re bringing your whole self when you do say “yes”.
You Don’t Know What’s Next- but, you’re open to what will be offered
The biggest sign of personal growth is not clamoring to figure out “what’s next.” You’re in a state of mind where you think of your dream life at a large scale and work towards things that bring you there. You’re not spending your free time “worried” about “when you’ll meet your person.” or “how you’ll buy that house”, or “what is my career, even?!” but rather, you’re spending your free time envisioning your dream life and doing little things every day to get you there. Shortly stated: you know it’s not all going to happen at once, so you just enjoy the journey.
You Want to Understand “Why”
You’re no longer content to just accept things as “the way it is,” you want to really understand. You want to understand your role in a situation, why you were triggered by a certain thing, or why you respond the way you do because you want to improve situations. This is the starting point to truly changing your life and not living on auto-pilot.
As always, I’m grateful you’re here. Part of my personal growth has really been focusing on what I want to be, as a person and how that translates. Salt, with Soul, is integral to my story and I’m so proud of our new logo.
With the new logo, our storefront got a facelift too! Our “Salt” products are all foodie-based products (more to come this week!) and our “Soul” products are all about feeling empowered and recognizing our growth. You can visit the store here.
Follow us on Instagram @(Salt_withsoul) and we’ll see you thursday for a dash of Salt.