I stand for self-challenge, learning and growing every day. I don’t mean making yourself struggle or letting yourself stay in the struggle. I mean that we, as humans, have the opportunity to constantly push ourselves outside our comfort zone, to take that next leap in our businesses, and to challenge ourselves endlessly in pursuit of perpetual growth and self-evolution.
In 2015 I ended a 6 year relationship. I left behind the person I was going to marry, the house we bought together, my dog who I let the ex keep, the life we had built together. Incidentally, this was also the relationship in which I had allowed myself to become complacent, depressed, and entirely too stagnant.
When I ended this relationship, I made a solid promise to myself (the first one I had ever really followed through with) that I would do something new, something that challenged me and put me just outside my comfort zone every single day, for 30 days. I committed to that and followed through with grit and determination to become the woman I desired to be.
In 2016 after I graduated from my master’s program, I realized that I had entered the real world of adulting and had literally no goals in my life. That was the first time since high school that I had no goals. I felt like, pardon my French, a bucket of poop to realize and acknowledge that. I had also become antisocial throughout college and grad school and had no idea how to have conversations with people. Seriously, I was socially inept and closed off. I actually couldn’t even look people in the eye when I talked to them. That said, I had no goals, I had no social skills, so I smashed these two together and created my first goal in a while. My goal for the rest of the year was to become an excellent communicator with others. It was simple, not specific, not measurable (sorry SLP graduate professors, you feel me SLPs). I chose to go to restaurants alone and sit at the bar so that I was approachable. I chose to start a conversation with people in line places. I chose to go on dates (lots of firsts, because, well in our early 20s, men were giant man babies...oops, did I say that?!). I chose to start networking. I chose to start listening to Simon Sinek regarding leadership and communication. I put myself TF out there and hard.
There’s a reason I’m saying all of this. It’s because I stand for challenging yourself. Every. Damn. Day.
Here are my outcomes: I am now an extrovert (mostly), who wants to have/has a million conversations a day and loves it. I will stare into your eyes until well after you can no longer look into mine because it’s awkward AF. I hug my friends (pre-COVID) and tell them personal, vulnerable things. I can talk to and approach nearly anyone at all. I actually connect people intentionally and really freaking well. I say THE most random shit to the most random of people and get them to laugh. And when I say those outlandish things, I don’t care what judgement may follow anymore. I have meaningful and deep conversations every day. I encourage people to push their own boundaries and question them on an intimate level. I love the woman I’m becoming because I’ve pushed her really hard to get here, and you should too.
I stand for continuously exercising your discomfort muscle and consistently stretching your borders, because we as humans are meant to grow and evolve. Our evolution causes a ripple effect in the lives of others and our society as a whole, so why would we not challenge ourselves? #wecancreateworldpeace
With Love & Gratitude,
Devin