“Becoming” is not an overnight sensation. Nor is it just a momentary decision. As I’ve shared over the past couple of days, embracing this concept for myself, has involved a lot of work, effort and really tough soul searching.
It takes a real, sincere level of commitment. It’s not just a phase, a catchy slogan or pop psychology. As we’ve discussed when setting the necessary goals to live on this path of “Becoming”, we(as a family) are viewing the written testaments as covenants. That was further amplified in the way we signed into the agreements:
“This year, 20/20 +1, will be my best year yet. Plus there will be many more, even better, yet to come.
This pledge of all the above documents is respectfully submitted for your and mine consideration; however those thought processes defer to and are secondary to the blind obedience I submit to God. I consider this a binding agreement between the Lord and myself, fully accepting all responsibility for co-creating my best life now.”
And I also personally signed mine with the following line,
“ I love myself. I love the Lord and I love life”.
That was something that in the past calendar year I could not say, or even fake at times.
Last year I hit some all time lows. Suddenly every aspect of my life seemed to be spiraling downward. I saw absolutely no place, or reason for me in this so-called ‘ new reality’. I had lost all hope and literally prayed for an end to it all. Thank God for unanswered prayers.
Instead I kept hearing these words, “Live Expectantly”.
Certainly not what I was expecting at the time, and at no moment then could I see, fathom or grasp any reason why this two-word phrase would keep popping up. “Live expectantly”? After a few months of struggle after struggle and this “Live Expectantly” continued and continued to appear, confound, confuse, baffle, beleaguer and at times just plain annoy me.
“Live Expectantly”! I would exclaim, what does it mean, and what does it have to do with me. And you know what? I asked the question and received my answer.
You get out of life what you put into it. I was expecting disaster and gloom and that was exactly what I was getting.
Years ago, more than I care to admit to, but even at the risk of dating myself (lol), I’ll share it anyways, there was a computer programming acronym “G.I.G.O.” It stood for Garbage In, Garbage Out. If you programmed garbage, that’s exactly what would be produced by the machine for you. It wasn’t the computer’s fault, it was the operator’s error. Conversely if you programmed with the right sequence, proper language and a formatted design, then you could achieve a desired result.
Flashback forward to the present, and all these decades later, I was putting garbage in my mind, my heart and my soul. So what else could I be able to receive but pure rubbish?
Then it hit me, (finally) that if I wanted to become, I had to make changes. I had to make new commitments. I had to accept new obligations. If I wanted to become something, I had to start, in a very active way. This is where “Becoming” becomes my new way.
Now while they may not have used our terminology a number of ome before us, have certainly understood this concept. One example is Elizabeth Blackwell, who was born in 1821, and dreamed of one day “Becoming” a doctor.
Rejected by 29 medical schools before finally being accepted, even then it was not the realization she thought it would be. It seems her acceptance letter was intended as a practical joke. However the joke turned out to be on the college and it’s all male student body, because even though Blackwell faced discrimination and major obstacles she remained committed to her “Becoming”.
While professors tried to isolate her, forcing her to sit separately at lectures and often denying her participation in labs; she kept to her intention of “Becoming”. When local townspeople shunned her as a “bad” woman for defying her gender role, nevertheless she kept on “Becoming”. And she did eventually earn the respect of professors and classmates, alike as Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman physician in the United States after graduating first in her class in 1849.
Desire. Commitment. Sustained Efforts. Realization of “Becoming”.
We all have different ideas, needs, wants. We all have to face different obstacles, road blocks, leap over hurdles and go around barriers. Nevertheless it can be done, and there is no reason that should stop us from “Becoming”.
Tomorrow we’ll look deeper at the GIGO analogy, and how I’ve rewritten it as an initial step in the process of “Becoming”.
I really would like to hear from you. Remember, you can always post comments, questions, thoughts, below. If you haven’t already done so, go ahead and subscribe, to be notified of our latest post. If you’re not ready for the world to see that you’re “becoming”, well you’ll need to get over that; in the meantime though you can always send a private message on my Contact page.
If you want to learn more about Elizabeth Blackwell here are couple of links:
Wikipedia or the National Women’s History Museum
Becoming Today with Rochelle Jeanette 