2009-2019 What I've Learned This Decade
Yesterday at a breakfast I asked a group of friends, “what has been your biggest change over the last 10 years”? I didn’t really have an answer for myself, but I’ve been mulling this question over since.
Alisha 10 years ago thought she was going to change the world, I’d just spent a lot of time volunteering for the Obama campaign helping to get him elected (as did every single person who volunteered for that campaign) and I had a lot of hope. I was about to help start the non-profit “Face-to-Face” with nine other people I will love and respect for the rest of my life. I didn’t have a clue what I wanted to be when I grew up. I felt stuck in my work, stuck in the job giving me a stable paycheck. I was lost in some ways and seeking hard for more meaning and purpose. I had the best ride or die dog ever. I’d just become a 200-hour certified yoga instructor. I was starving myself because I thought my value to the world was tied to how I Iooked and how small I could make myself physically. Over the last ten years I fell in love a couple times, had my heart broken a couple times in different ways. I’ve learned what it feels like to experience devastating loss, and while it hurts, it’s a great wake-up call to understanding the grief and pain of others. I’ve started 2 businesses, produced 64 episodes of my podcast celebrating creative women living abundantly (and counting). I’ve figured out what I was put on this earth to do, or at least I’m a lot closer to understanding my purpose than I was 10 years ago. I’ve filed for bankruptcy. I’ve traveled the world. I’ve been shown love, support and grace in ways that I didn’t know were possible. I’ve been taught so much about family. My capacity for compassion towards self and others has grown tremendously.
My hope for 2020 and the next 10 years is to return the support, grace and love I’ve been shown. I want to give it back and pay it forward. I want to see what’s possible when I focus on smaller acts of kindness and love with the people I love and with my community. I no longer think I need to change the world. I’m confident now that all I need to do each day focus on what my dad told me he liked to do each day “end the day knowing that I’d helped at least one person”.
How about you? What’s been your biggest change over the last 10 years and what do you hope for the next decade?
Cheers to 2020 and beyond