2021 scooted right by.
We are on the precipice of yet, another New Year.
As an Emerging Man, what have you learned about yourself this past year? What thoughts or ideas have you had that have changed?
“If any man is able to convince me and show me that I do not think or act right, I will gladly change; for I seek the truth by which no man was ever injured. But he is injured who abides in his error and ignorance.” ~ Marcus Aurelius/Meditations
I learned a lot this year.
Culminating with, and going even deeper personally, after missing a large, mature, Whitetail buck during the archery season.
Last January I crushed my second Marine Fitness Test, I use it as my health gauge.
Then the wheels came off.
A forearm injury, a cough that started in April, and hasn’t completely gone away, it isn’t a COVID thing, it seems to be some new allergy thing, then a real sickness, for a week in the fall, then fighting off the common cold until Christmas, receiving a surprise tax bill from a past, failed business, causing some anxiety, and meeting up emotionally with my inner child; and that’s just my health… funny thing though, I continued to shoot my bow; continued to work out; continued to learn about how my body reacts to these different illnesses, becoming more self aware of my emotional state; becoming more knowledgeable about my bow set up; becoming more self aware in general.
But overall I’d have to say, “I had a pretty good year.”
Why?
This year my awareness has risen to see that “all this bad stuff” actually is showing me something I needed to see… more than if I would have been “successful” at everything from the get go.
Wish I would have got that buck though… but I learned so much from that about myself, that I’m actually grateful to that deer for the life lessons he taught me.
The Success Books say, “You learn more from a mistake or loss, than you do from a win.”
Here is what I’ve experienced concerning this statement.
It doesn’t have to be that a mistake, or a win, is elevated above the other one.
You can learn a lot from both… IF… if, you have the skill, ability, and patience, to go over the experience with a fine tooth comb to see and assess what the heck actually happened.
It is harder with a win, I’ll give you that, but that’s only because you are basking in the glory… and egotism, of doing it right.
I can’t shake the feeling that if I would have gotten that deer, I would have been so arrogant about it, it would have ruined the experience at some point, somehow, nothing like missing a big ten pointer to humble yourself.
The skill and ability to clearly think through any experience you have had, and to garner some solid take aways… takes courage.
You have to question yourself.
You have to push yourself.
You have to be honest with yourself.
That last one is probably the most important. If we can’t be honest with our self it’s hard to make the hard calls we need to make to move ourselves forward.
In my attempts to ENCOURAGE myself, to EQUIP myself, and to ENGAGE myself in 2021 I had to admit to myself that I was stuck emotionally… and that one revelation… being hard to confront… once confronted, felt like I dropped a logging chain off of my shoulders.
My main therapy tool is “self reflection journaling.”
Jordan B. Peterson has said of writing, “Writing is organized thinking.”
I agree with that.
What errors, personally, have you worked through in 2021?
What personal goals will you be working on in 2022?
In 2022, I’ll be publishing my sixth book, hopefully hitting 19 minutes on my 3 mile run, and who knows… maybe tagging a buck of a life time next fall.
Happy New Year!
theemergingman.com 