Worldview

Day 5 - Write about a season when your faith or worldview guided you through something challenging.

Truly, that would apply in all the difficult seasons of my life.

But for today, I'll go with pressing through obstacles to earn my Master's degree!  It's an accomplishment and a memory that encourages me now as I pursue my doctorate.

You have to "do your own work" when you pursue a counseling degree -- which means processing your own ambiguous grief, trauma, anger, fear, confusion, etc. to be as healed as possible in your work with others.  Most of us are intentional about facing those things head-on, but if you are not, things in the program are likely to confront you and naturally bring up the things you've been avoiding.  

I would say the two defining components of my worldview come from Eldredge's "Hope in the Coming Kingdom" and Miller's "Hero on a Mission."  When my mind falls into comparison or jealousy, it helps me tremendously to remember that what EVERY PERSON experiences here on earth is partial and incomplete, so that I do not set my expectations too high for anything I am pursuing here, and I remember to anchor my heart in the hope of Heaven!  

It also really helps me to keep a forward-thinking, action-oriented, purposeful mindset where I always have meaningful goals that will benefit me and others that I am working toward!  (Hero on a Mission.)  In times of sadness or grief, it is easier to fall into self-pity, but I'm doing my best to avoid a victim mindset.  I am not helpless, and I am not apathetic.  I want to keep a proper perspective, to meet with trustworthy guides, and to remember my God-given power and agency to choose how I move forward!!

Current top 3 goals:*

1. Earn my PhD (so that I can become a CCU professor)
2. Establish a consistent workout routine and lead with protein (to reach goal weight of 155)
3. Spend 12-15 minutes a day meditating on God's love for me (until I have done it for 30 days solid)

Okay, that was helpful for me to think through.  Adoption/motherhood had been at the top of that list for so long that I hadn't really bothered to set a new relational goal until now.  I've heard multiple podcasts lately with themes around how mindfulness and meditation positively change our brains... along with the value of deeply understanding God's love for us, and I can feel myself being stubbornly resistant to all of it, so I'm going with that as my core relational goal for right now, which will help me choose the next one.

*Donald Miller recommends that we always have 3 goals that are personally meaningful to us -- no more, no less -- and to always add a new one when you reach or change one of your goals.  I love that framework - it gives you a consistent sense of purpose, but does not set any one thing too high!  Obviously, authoring a book will be on my list post-graduation, but not quite yet.

That's all for today.
Happy Wednesday, friends and fam!! =)
❤ ❤ ❤