“Without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful.” ― Margaret J. Wheatley

Each month, I set aside a chunk of time to reflect on the previous month: memorable moments, lessons I learned, how I spent my time, how I’m different, who/what I’m grateful for, improvements for next month, and goals to work toward. I want to be more intentional in my personal development this year, and posting each month serves as a way to help keep me accountable.

THREE LESSONS I LEARNED THIS PAST MONTH:

• Don’t be afraid to try new things. I had a lot of firsts this month, and some of those  firsts weren’t always comfortable. A little discomfort is okay! Change is where the growth happens, anyways.
• Often things happen in your life that are out of your control — both positive and negative. I’m learning to stop wasting time complaining about the negative. Accept what you can’t change, learn to live with it, and work around it.
• Forgiveness is tough. But as easy as it is to wait around for someone to ask for forgiveness, that’s not that way to approach it — they may never ask. Forgiveness needs to start with a change in your heart. Jesus doesn’t wait for us to change his heart toward us. He’s already forgiven us, we just need to accept it (we can’t be reconciled until we do).

What big lessons have you learned over the past month? Share in the comments below!