Hey lovely friends, This week I felt especially thoughtful about what the future holds. As some of you may know, I am moving to Europe later on this year and there are multiple things to plan, sell, update, and so on.
With that in mind, I started questioning myself about what it really meant to work on the projects I have at the moment. If they are really aligned with what I want to do in the future or even if I enjoy them or not.
Let me explain a bit, when I was younger, I was used to be a people-pleaser, never acknowledging what I wanted to do or what I believed. Just trying to adapt to others so I felt more accepted. And thus, betraying myself and even going against my own ideas. This was even projected in my personal life and it had some negative impact that I couldn’t understand before.
Of course, this never led me to a good place.
So over the past few months, I tried to define my own values, beliefs, and passions. And I finally think that the hard work placed on that is paying off. As I feel more in connection with other people that understand my passion for sustainability, knowledge management, and so on.
For instance, I wanted to share some of the questions that helped me to start this journey of self-discovery. And after some thought, they are the following:
- What are my values? Basically trying to understand what I stand for. If there are certain things that I feel are part of my essence and I wouldn’t change for anything. Also considering what are my anti-values and what I do to avoid them.
- What are my fears? Am I doing something because I am afraid of something else? Or am I doing something just to feel loved/accepted/not rejected? Wondering whether my current beliefs are connected to some negative past experience and are based on fear and not because I really believe in them.
- If I dislike what someone else is doing, is it because I am scared of knowing a part of me that I might not like? I believe that it is quite common to meet people that dare to do crazier things or achieve more in things that we like. Sometimes, we would dislike them for no apparent reason but probably it is just related to ourselves not facing our own self.
- Am I hiding due to past trauma? Probably feeling ashamed to showing the imperfect self to the world. Fearing that people might judge us or even mocking us. This might be a bit harder to answer but trust me, it really makes a huge difference to know this. Once we accept who we really are and HONOR our imperfect versions, we are free to uncover our real potential.
I hope that somehow these questions help you know if you are staying true to yourself. I honestly believe that living a full life is all about knowing and accepting ourselves. That might be the best life to live.
See you next week,
John
Weekly realizations
- In this tweet from Tiago Forte, he explains how consuming a lot of information might lead you to be consumed by it. There is a lot to learn by processing the information and knowledge we explore. That is also part of the reason why I started this newsletter.
- This tweet from Navalism gives an interesting perspective over why certain startups fail. It mostly happens because the founders run out of energy not because they run out of cash. And I cannot agree with this more! Taking enough rest and knowing your limits is a good way to keep yourself healthy and motivated to continue working.
Highlight of the week
Something cool is coming. Time to heal our wounds #hqnv. Will bring some news about this in the following weeks.