When Was the Last Time You Had a BM?

When was the last time you had a BM? No, I don’t mean a bowel movement. No, I don’t mean a baby mama. I mean the Betterment of ME.  Yes, betterment is a word indeed. It means the act or process of improving something. I took the photo above, from the backseat of a speeding taxi, while riding through St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. “Life is film you can’t edit”. I agree we cannot go back and edit life, but we are all capable of making small changes to better our lives. I was thinking recently about changes I want to make for the betterment of me. To improve who I am as a human being. The human mind has always fascinated me.  I believe one of the most unpredictable things in the universe is human behavior, no matter how much we think we know someone (even ourselves), the unknown is always there.

I was once taught in a psychology class that the personality we are born with is the personality we will die with too.  It makes me think, well are we really capable of changing who we are as individuals? Some days my answer is yes, then I meet someone new or reconnect with someone and my answer is a strong no. I read an article once that said “people don’t change. They are who they are. It is our view of them which changes.” Yet, I still would like to hold on to hope that we can change individually and collectively. I want to grow into the person that God has created me to be in every aspect of life. Our environment and people we surround ourselves with, can have a strong impact on that growth. I believe strongly in doing work within before pointing fingers to others though. I constantly feel the need to “check myself.” Just to be sure that any problems I encounter are not self-created.

Self-reflection is so important to me and pretty much is a reiterated topic on CSS. This is because we can’t get to where we are going without knowing where we are coming from. We can’t grow past our mistakes without the recognition and reflection of them. We can’t grow into who we were destined to be without acknowledging our current position in life. I noticed some things about myself that has developed over time and I’m not quite satisfied with them. Of course this is not to say that we shouldn’t accept our flaws and love ourselves unconditionally. Self-love is indeed important, but growth is essential to our well-being.

I recently took a solo trip last month to Thailand. It was over 9,000 miles alone and not a family member, friend, or foe in sight. No travel agent involved in any bookings, just me by my lonesome. Thailand was beautiful and will forever be a special place to me. The experience was unimaginable. I learned many things, most of which can be detailed at another time. The most important discovery was recognizing that I am not who I once was, which to me is a great accomplishment. However, it was also accepting that there are areas that still need work.  My greatest area of work is not overthinking and over-analyzing. I can corrupt my own peace of mind by creating scenarios that will never happen.  I read another article once that said “85 percent of what we worry about never happens.”  EIGHTY FIVE PERCENT! You know how many joyful and cheerful thoughts we can fill our minds up with to cover 85 percent! Well that’s one of my new areas of betterment, to let what it is, just be and keep it moving. Keep loving, growing, and prospering.

As I enter into new chapters of life (I’m also newly engaged), the beauty of evolving continues to amaze me. I have mental and physical “betterments” to look forward to molding. We should always be searching and working on the betterment of ME, especially if life is film you can’t go back and edit. I want to continue to grow and better myself, that’s a lifetime goal.  Peace & Love.

-CSS