Becoming:”Becoming Today”

As we begin to wrap up a second year here along our shared path, I thought today we would look back at how it all began and why I wanted to undertake this project.

So on this edition of “Becoming Today” we’ll revisit our very first post and then continue with some of the rest of the story, I shared nearly half a year later.

It was on New Year’s Day 2021 that our first conversation began with a single word:

“Becoming”.

That’s what this New Year, this new project and my renewed direction in life is all about. So what exactly do I mean by “Becoming”? Glad you asked….

To begin with “Becoming”, is a  word and words do have meanings. So if used as an adjective, “Becoming” can be defined as  flattering a person’s appearance’ . Synonyms include attractive, lovely, pretty, handsome, stylish, elegant, chic, fashionable or tasteful.  Certainly all are concepts worthy of our attention, and while they are and will add to our experience, it’s still so much more. 

What I’m talking about is much closer aligned with “Becoming” as a noun: ‘’the process of coming to be something or of passing into a state”. Coming to be always, “Becoming”. Growing, developing and shifting into an attitude and daily practice of always, “Becoming”.

That’s the essence behind, “Becoming Today”. 

How do I, as an individual and we as a society, focus on “Becoming” what we are truly destined to be? How do we become all we can be? How do we further enrich our lives and those of our families, friends, communities and society as a whole?  What exactly is it we want to become today? Each and every day, becoming the best at whatever we desire, hope for, have set goals for, prayed for  and how do we achieve this state? 

Those are questions we’ll focus on together in this new year of 20/20+1.

So how did this concept come into my awareness, mind, being, essence and on my heart? It was all because of the reset button being the past calendar year. Like many and honestly all of us, 2020 changed our entire ways of life. How we had to prepare, what we could expect, how could we anticipate, the next changes coming. 

The global pandemic. Economic uncertainties.  Personal Losses. Grieving for loved ones. Increased personal sacrifices and/or the fallout from those who refused to understand the need to.  Politics and here in the U.S. A., the tone of the election. A mere 365 days ago, no one could have dreamt, what we would have to learn to cope with and adjust our thinking toward.

At that time, January of 2020, I was focused on the world of eCommerce. Always a hectic time of year for customer service, dealing with overseas manufacturers, distributors and shipping, it always slows for the nearly three week observances of the Chinese New Year. 

So I was prepared for that: primarily knowing everyday, I would have emails and calls from shall we say, “grumpy” customers who don’t want to realize, sometimes it takes a little longer to get what you want from 6,888 miles away.

Then I started to get communications about a virus that was impacting a province I did  alot of business in. That then became, business associates there sending me pictures taken through the peepholes in the front doors of their homes. Tanks in the street. Armored personnel carriers and soldiers, making sure none of them could leave their residences.

Now I’m becoming aware, this is unlike anything I’ve encountered. But being aware still did not prepare me for all the changes ahead. My life on this New Year’s Day does not look anything like it was a year ago.

My career. My home life. My vision for the future. The very core of my foundations have all become far different. However, I don’t view those necessary changes as losses, rather the opposite. All of these revised needs, allowed me to hit my personal reset button and are allowing me to live a renewed life of “Becoming”.

Personally that means becoming the best woman, the best person I can be. 

Professionally that means becoming one who does what I’ve always dreamed of.

And yet there is still more, I want to see you become { fill in the blank here with your personal needs and aspirations}. I want for you to achieve, be and share this spirit of “Becoming”. That’s why I have undertaken this project for the year 20/20 + 1.

It is also why I am making this pledge to you and hope you’ll make the same to me and us:

Coming together as independent individuals, sharing a planet, and intentionally setting our combined focus on becoming the strongest, most empowered God-fearing women we can be; it is vital we set these objectives, hopes and shared visions in writing, to make them truly achievable and to hold each of us and the “we” accountable. 

(At the time I also asked for you to participate….)

So let’s commit to “Becoming Today”, everyday, 24 7/ 365. I’ll be posting conversations six days a week, Monday through Saturday, so that we may share and become together in this year of 20/20 + 1.  Please comment below. You can also subscribe to be notified when new posts are available. You are also encouraged to use our Contact page for private communications. 

By the way, if you’re wondering, asking, screaming why is the woman referring to the year as 20/20 + 1 ?!? Good question, and I’ll answer it tomorrow. Until then I hope and pray you are “Becoming Today”.

Then nearly six months later I shared for the first time anywhere, the rest of the story.

That conversation was titled:

“Becoming”: Becomes My New Way

“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. Tank 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”.

And still there is more to this story. Tomorrow as we greet the last day of this year, I’ll share the deeply personal story that proved to me there was so much more ahead.

I hope you join us on our next edition of “Becoming Today”, so we can finish this conversation and the year together.