The Privilege of Growing
It has been a few days after registering my domain, and I realized that getting a website up and running is easy but beginning to compose its contents is not. Though I already came up with quite a few subjects for a jumpstart, I still have some hold-back moments when I become profused of things that hinder me to write my heart out. But as I try to push these negative thoughts away, I was reminded of one of my favorite takeaways from a Sharon Lechter book which says “Don’t worry about perfection. Just Get Started.” So, I decided to go about by sharing with you a passage which hit me head-on and which I think will be relevant to my fellow millennial moms and generally adults alike, or those who wanted a little push on initiating something meaningful.
Last Sunday, my friends and I had a pre-birthday and early dinner with our 71-year-old mentor and founder of the college organization I am a member of. It was an unusual date – it was fun yet very insightful. We had a session where she handed-out a small sheet of paper for us to read, with the passage below as written:
The Privilege of Growing
The great thing about life is that as long as we live, we have the privilege of growing. We can learn new skills, engage in new kinds of work, devote ourselves to new causes, make new friends, if only we will exercise a little initiative and refuse to become fixed, rigid… before our time.
Let us then learn how to accept ourselves – accept the truth that we are capable in some directions and limited to others, that genius is rare, that mediocrity is a portion of almost all of us, but that all of us can contribute from the storehouse of our skills to the enrichment of our common life.
Let us accept our emotional frailties, knowing that every person has some phobias lurking within his mind and that the normal person is he who is willing to accept life with its limitations and opportunities, joyfully and courageously.
Not only we must accept ourselves, but we must also change ourselves. Until the day of our death, we can change, we can tap hidden resources in our makeup. We can discipline ourselves to turn from the morbid circle of useless self-pity or enslavement to childish frustrations and begin to give our energy to other people, to a cause, a movement, a great social enterprise. In such service we can fill freedom from ourselves and liberty from our fears.
It was such a powerful message for me – a simple note which gave birth to more ideas, contemplations and made me go back to the purpose of why I started this blog. At the end of our reading session, we were asked about our reflection through a word, just one word and it was a shame not to be able to expand as we had little time. But if I was to be asked again, there will be five words and a few more on how I relate it on being a MoMillennial Pinay
1. PRIVILEGE
– that life is a privilege, and we owe it to ourselves not to remain wedged to what we are expected to be as mothers, as millennials, and as citizens but rather be unceasingly growing, evolving, exceeding and exuding of the person we want to be
2. ACCEPTANCE
– that true acceptance is key, both to our individual aptitudes and shortcomings as a mother and as a person, and that we can intertwine both our genius and mediocre strands to weave something great and impactful
3. CHANGE
– that acceptance is essential, but change is the ultimate unlocking to unimaginable possibilities and discovery of hidden resources in getting things done – whether it be on becoming a smarter parent, venturing a new business, founding an advocacy or learning your own niche
4. LIBERTY
– that if we take meaning to our privilege of growing, accept our realities, cut all our guilt trips and change our own adversary self, we will be unleashed from our fears and become unstoppable of our aspirations
5. SERVICE
– that all the above are meaningless, if we only dedicate it to ourselves. That we are all ought to do this for our children, our family, our friends and our community.
See, with the above, I just created my first list. And it feels amazing to, as Nike says, just do it.
My initial purpose for creating this blog is simple – to collect resources and entertaining threads posted online and present it through a list, so it will be easier for myself and other Pinay millennial mommies to find answers, coming from the first-hand experiences of our fellow moms. But as I continuously build its contents, my vision grew bigger to not only be an online reference but also to be a spur to more MoMillennials and anyone who can be reached through this page, so that they can be more courageous in improving themselves and eventually overcoming their adversities – in any aspect of their life.
I hope you found some motivation with the above passage and I suggest you write it down and keep for yourself to always carry. I did it myself as a reminder, that growing up is indeed a privilege and that we are bound to be more than what we think of ourselves.
