Personal Growth (Part 1)

Friday is the day Cardiogirl delves into her Book of Questions and writes a thought-provoking post, one that encourages her readers to respond.

Last week's question was about personal growth.  In what three year period did you grow most?

I chose not to answer. I explained that "Square Pegs are constantly in a state of re-evaluation and growth due to the insecurity of not fitting in." Besides, her comment box is too small, and I didn't want to take two hours of my work day to answer. It might've taken me most of that time just to decide which burst of personal growth was my greatest.

But now it's Saturday night, our daughter's in bed (and so's the wife) and I'm primed for a wild night of introspection! Yet, I don't plan to describe my greatest period of personal growth. I want to list them all and let you decide!

Our first candidate arose from a traumatic event. In a previous post, the first "Why Meditate" post, I describe the car crash and how it caused me to question consciousness and start meditating. I also started doing yoga and karate, and I stopped eating meat.

Candidate number two involves adversity. After my father was diagnosed with ALS, I started to go to school part time to get a degree in engineering. He died about a year and a half after I started school. But I continued to work full time and go to school part time, which was made easier because I was still living with my mother. Then, two years later I quit work to go to school full time, although I worked full time at temp jobs during the summers. In a previous post called The Way of the Peaceful Warrior I wrote about the period leading up to graduation. Therapy helped me through that time. And with a B.S. degree, I started my new life by moving into my own apartment. To me that felt like stepping off a cliff and trusting that I would stay afloat.

Candidate number three involves the birth of a child, our daughter. I wrote a little bit about this in a previous post called, "How to Change the World." Before our daughter was born, my wife and I were both working. I was brought up a frugal saver, so I only spent money on things I needed, but only when I thought the store was losing money on it. I was working and saving for my retirement. Although we were paying off a mortgage, I still felt that if I got tired of my career I could cop out and slack off with a less demanding job. That all changed very quickly when our daughter was born. Suddenly I had a life insurance policy and someone to provide for.

The last candidate, number four, will be the subject of another post. It's a delicate subject, even for this anonymous blog.