It’s official! I’m replacing new year resolutions’ with inventing new possibilities for myself. Webster.com defines Possibility as:
- one’s utmost power, capacity, or ability,
- potential or prospective value.
I, you, we, possess the ability to live the life we want, the one we dream about, even the life we envy on someone else. Inventing new possibilities for yourself requires looking ahead, but I hate to tell you this, you don’t know how.
When people say “leave the past behind you” or “forget about your past”, they neglect to provide you with a roadmap for how to get that done. True freedom of your past is necessary to invent and embody the infinite possibilities available to you.
My past isn’t your past, but we all have one. So whether someone broke your heart, you felt like an outsider, no one ever made you feel good enough, you never thought you were smart enough and the list goes on; These are events in your past that have never left you.
You may disagree with me, but here’s my own example:
I grew up in foster care and aged out at 21 years of age, while still in college. My childhood wasn’t riddled with abuse or extreme neglect, but the very essence of being a ward of the court gave rise to its own challenges. In fact, the reason I was in foster care so long was that my mom was addicted to drugs & alcohol.
All I did as a child was getting good grades in school and dream of a life, unlike the one I was living. What I realized very recently is that I had been living a “not like my mother life”. My degrees, the jobs I sought, the people I connected with, all were to create a life that didn’t resemble my mom’s life.
You may be asking, “what’s wrong with that”? Truthfully, nothing is wrong with that, except for the fact that I had not been living “my life.” I made decisions to ensure I lived a life opposite of what I knew growing up, but not the life I could invent for myself; A life of guilt-free decisions and unlimited amounts of self-expression. A life of less fear and more intentional experiences.
Sharing my story was meant to inspire you, not make you feel sorry for me or yourself. There is no time like the present to begin living “your life”.
So I ask, “what is possible for you”?
Happy New Year,
Sana’
Chief Girlfriend
