Personal Development

This is my story about overcoming the hardest time in my life and is why I am passionate about personal development and implementing positive coping mechanisms to deal with life stressors.

I feel like I have always dealt with life stressors in a negative way. It was when I was working as an Emergency Medical Technician when I took the negative habits to a new level.  I started drinking alcohol daily, partying all the time, smoking cigarettes and marijuana, and eating everything in sight.

I found myself:

-          depressed

-          anxious

-          withdrawn

-          shut down

-          agitated

-          not able to concentrate to make even the easiest decisions

-          making poor life choices both personally and financially

-          emotionally exhausted

-          not able to sleep even though I was tired all the time

-          with no compassion for others

-          with no passion for my career that I worked so hard to achieve

-          surrounded by so many people and feeling alone

-          soulless

-          numb

-          with no self-confidence

-          gaining 30 pounds

-          acting out of character where I let my family and friends down

-          not living within my values

-          not able to function at home or at work

The more I carried on like this the worse the feelings got and for many years I did not know how bad things in my life were. It took getting assaulted at work for me to realize that I was in a dark place and needed professional help. This was not an easy observation for me. It took a lot of soul searching and the will to fight for a better life to be able to move forward with my personal development journey.

I started to:

-          read

-          listen to positive/educational audios

-          journal

-          meditate

-          go to the gym

-          go to business and leadership conferences

-          take an eating program to where I lost those 30 pounds

-          surround myself with the people that love me for support and a reminder of who I am and how strong I am

This was and is not an easy task or a quick fix. It is working everyday to improve the person I was yesterday.  I will never say I am perfect and yes; I do have bad days or weeks or even months however, I now am able to recognize the negative feelings and signs and immediately take action to improve myself. I choose to keep moving forward and striving to be the best I can be.

These are just some of the positive coping mechanisms I implemented in to my lifestyle. I am able to keep my mind focused and grounded to where I can control my thoughts and actions in a calm and passionate manner.  They have helped me get out of my funk and take control of my life where I can see improvements: mentally, emotionally, physically, professionally and financially.

If I can do it, you can!