Time to Grow Up

“A Powice Man” I replied when my mom asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. Of course, that was over forty years ago. Crazy how time flies by, isn’t it? So let’s do this. Let’s pause time for just a moment and take a look at ourselves. How? Like this. Stop. Reread this very sentence slowly three times then move on. Now, breathe. Breathe slow and deep. Slow your mind down. Pause again here. Ok. Now, here we are. You might ask where. –“In front of the mirror” I would reply. Sure, it’s an imaginary mirror, but what it shows you isn’t imaginary at all.

Take a good look. What do you see? A face, eyes, what? Look closer. See all of the wrinkles? That’s not something we want to see, but they are there. What else do you see? How about the gray hair? Remember when gray hair was just something that your grandparents had? It seems like life is moving so fast; in fact, maybe too fast.

Look a little deeper. In fact, look into your own eyes. What do you see there? Lots and lots of life lived. Sure, your eyes may look tired and even a bit bloodshot, but look past that. Look into the years of life that those eyes have witnessed. There was a time when you were younger that some in your family really wondered if you would ever make it. Guess what? Here you are. You made it. Take another breath and think about that. Here you are in the midst of your day, all grown up and living life. Yes, you did make it.

What else do you see when you look deep into your own eyes? Let me tell you what I see in you. First, you are unique. There is no one else like you, anywhere! You are an amazing collection of life experiences, wisdom and emotions. You have seen pain, and joy. You’ve experienced life and death. You have been deep in the valleys and you’ve kissed the sun from the summit of life’s mountains. In a word, you are amazing. Yes, amazing!

All too often we define ourselves by what we see on the outside when, in fact, the real “us” is on the inside. We are even known to determine our self-value by what we look like on the outside. For example, if you are overweight, you feel like you are flawed in some way and often live depressed and unhappy. Because we don’t see our true inner selves, we can never fix our outer selves and so weight loss, joy, happiness and all good things seem impossible.

Do this instead: Stop judging yourself by what you see on the outside. Look within at the amazing person that you are. That beautiful, loving and amazing person within you really IS you. Once you believe and accept that, then and only then will you be unchained and able to change the outside. Learning to see the real you “within” is what I call “growing up” and it’s NEVER too late to do that.

What do you want to be when YOU grow up? Remember, Powice Man is already taken!