#72 - How did I get here?

That is a question we all ask ourselves from time to time.  As we travel through life we come upon various events that cause us to pause and reflect on our life’s journey…or at least we should.  These events can be positive or negative.  Either way, they should make us look at who we have become and how we have gotten here.

For me, this has been a journey of at least 25 years.  That is when I bought my first self-help cassette tape series.  It was a program designed to help me create a positive attitude and improve my sales skills.  I listened faithfully for months.  I did gain a much more positive attitude but sales skills didn’t improve that much.

As time went on, I acquired more and more self-help books, tapes and CDs.  Books like The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Awaken the Giant Within and In Search of Excellence were just the beginning.  I started to read more and more…business books, personal improvement books.  I purchased Anthony Robbins CD programs and listened for hours on end.  All of the information I was consuming was great, but there was something missing.  I was missing self confidence!

For years I lived with the fear that people would not like me if they knew who I “really” was.  I couldn’t possibly live up to the facade I had created.  Then, one day I was having a very frank conversation with a close friend.  He made some comments about how he viewed me and our relationship.  It opened my eyes to how others actually did see me.  At age 52, I was no longer the little boy or young man in search of acceptance.  I was an adult that could be and was now respected for who I was.  All the years of listening to and reading self-help material all seemed to come together in one moment with the words of a dear friend.  This was the first major turning point in my life.

There have been several other important personal revelations in my life since then, but that was the first and the most important.  The realization that I was not inferior, was not stupid, was not an idiot, was the door that opened a new world of self-confidence to me.  Since that time, I have come to learn that few of us have grown up in healthy households.  Yet, many of us have overcome these issues and live happy lives.  What have you overcome?  How did you get here?  Share your stories with us.