I've changed / I'm still changing

Sometimes it’s not easy to recognize that you are changing as a person when you’re in the midst of trying situation in life. You’re too busy focusing on how you got yourself in this mess and trying to figure out ways to get out. You’re most likely to be too preoccupied with the frustrations that you are experiencing on a daily basis to notice that you are actually getting through this trying situation. Then something happens one day, you realize that you have made it through the worst of the storm. Now while you may still be in the tunnel, you can actually see the light at the end. This is the moment when you start to look at things differently. You finally stop focusing on your little situation and begin noticing that there is indeed a bigger picture at work and that it is much more worthy of your time and energy. This moment of revelation may be different for everyone but for me it came through my interactions with my co-workers. Specifically, those co-workers around my age. I listen to them vent their frustrations and share their problems. After which, I usually offer my two cents of advice and let that be that. But something was different today, in offering my advice I realized that I’m in a different place in life from my co-workers/peers. According to my date of birth alone, I am older than them. But I’m beginning to see that through life experience and maturation, I am older as well. In addition, Houston, Texas is not my home and I am no longer in school. I served my time, earned my degree, and entered the real world. Not the I’m working, going to school, but still living at home real world. The real world where if I don’t wok, then I don’t eat. So yes, I now view the world through a different set of lenses. Life is too short for me to sweat the small and trivial matters. If something (or someone) is not enhancing my life then they are a liability and I refuse to waste time on a liability. Long story short, I’ve changed. And I’m still changing because as one person once told me, “Change is not an act, it’s a process.” But I’ve changed enough in this past year to where I’m finally noticing these changes and I must admit, I like them. I know that they will only make me a better, stronger, smarter, and wiser woman and hey, I would be a fool if I didn’t want that.