Rome wasn't built in a day...

When I’d get frustrated about a hard challenge in my life, my grandmother used to say to me: “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”

What does Rome have to do anything?

What exactly did she mean?

As I got older, I figured out that she meant that I should be patient and that it would take time for me to achieve a goal.

And that’s okay.

Too often in life, we’re told that there’s a short cut to get to where we want to go.

Sometimes that’s true, but most the time it’s not.

When I started working on myself back in my 20s, I used to think that I would get out of therapy one day and then everything would be “fixed.”

I didn’t understand that the healing process is gradual and that it’s normal for it to be non-linear.

Some days we feel great, next week we might fall down and not feel great, and then the week after that we’ll be doing better.

Ten steps forward, 5 back, and 3 forward.

If we do the math, we’re still moving in the right direction.

In this week’s podcast, I share a great quote from the Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa about how a big project is like climbing a mountain.

When we struggle in life, it’s okay to be anxious or worried, but at some point we need to let that go and keep moving forward.

As a kid, I grew up not understanding what was “normal” and I didn’t have a clue on how I could learn skills to help me heal myself.

Over time I learned how to listen better as well as be a more effective communicator. I also learned how to process my emotions (in a healthy way) and problem-solve.

Many of us didn’t see any of these sorts of behaviors modeled within our dysfunctional family upbringing.

But now, as an adult, each of us has a new opportunity to learn and grow.

Resources such as self-help books, therapy, or a daily guide (see the 30 Days of Gratitude book), are tools that we can use to learn healthy ways of healing and growing.

I invite you to listen to this week’s podcast and learn along with me.

Be well!