Caregiver Tip Tuesday: Your journey of personal growth

In this edition of Caregiver Tip Tuesday, we look at some helpful tips for embarking on a journey of personal growth!

In my first blog this year, I asked you to consider yourself as the CEO of your life. In my second blog, I discussed the importance of self-discovery and being aware of where you are now in your life so that you can take the steps necessary to create the life you have always wanted to live.

Once you have given yourself permission to be who you are as a result of attending Board Meetings with yourself, it’s time to plan your journey of personal growth. This journey will help you create and live the life that you dream of.

Just as you need to plan one destination at a time when arranging a holiday, with this journey you need to choose the most important part of your life that you would like to change first, and work forward from there. The easiest way to do that is to brainstorm and write down all the things about your life that you wish you could change. Your list may include changes from many facets of your life. For example, you may feel as if someone else is driving your life rather than you, you may want to work towards living a more balanced life, you may want to feel less stressed, or you may want to work on establishing a healthier lifestyle that includes a better diet and more exercise.

Other areas that may be of concern to you might include your level of assertiveness, your ability to set healthy boundaries with others, your ability to make conscious choices, or your desire to build happier and healthier relationships. However, everyone is different so it is most important that your list represents what you want to change in your life.

If you are having trouble with this exercise, plan another meeting with your inner self. Close your eyes, let your mind relax, and try to envision how you would like your life to look in a year’s time. Write this vision down and then identify what parts of your vision are different from what your life looks like now. This will help you to identify what you would like to change. If you’re still struggling with this, meet with your Board of Directors, a life coach, or therapist. Just as a travel agent helps people plan their vacations, an objective listener in your life can be very helpful at helping you identify where your priorities lie.

Once you have identified the list of changes you want to make, prioritize them in order of importance to you. Rewrite the changes so that they are worded as goals, and mark beside each goal a date by which you hope to have it completed. This will allow you to see what you can accomplish immediately and what will take longer. A deadline can also be a great motivator. Always remember that it’s important to have balance in your life.

While you are focusing your attention on making changes in your life, be sure to maintain a healthy balance of time and energy for work, home, self-care and all of your primary relationships, roles and responsibilities. Also keep in mind that you will accomplish more if you are happy. Ensure that you are doing as many things as possible that you enjoy—this is a huge component of self-care.

Hopefully this blog has given you what you need to start on your journey of personal growth and helps you create the life that you have always wanted. Have fun!

Until next time, take very gentle care of yourself.

Patricia Butler is a physiotherapist, has had a long standing career in life coaching and development consulting. Over the years she has helped a number of caregivers and patients through various life altering situations. Her motto? "Don't wait for a crisis. The smaller the mountain, the easier it is to climb." Patricia will be blogging on a number of topics including life transitions, healing, communication issues, and positive lifestyles changes.