June 7th 2019
We are back again with another chapter of my failed journey to creating a book!
If you haven’t read the first chapter of my failed NaNoWriMo project, you can read it here or you could carry on reading Chapter 2 regardless of whether or not you’ve read Chapter 1. Enjoy!
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When you picture a new self, what do you see? What do your friends look like? What are you doing as a career or what are you studying to do? Where are you living? Do you have a significant other? What kind of hobbies are you pursuing? What do you look like? These questions may not have clear answers right now and that is entirely okay, but they are definitely things you need to think about when you are trying to create your ideal life and new self. A new self isn’t just fixing things on a personal level like deeply rooted emotional issues or updating your physical appearance. In order to create an entirely new self, you need to adapt all areas of your life to maintain this growth.
Who would the new you be friends with? Obviously I am not saying to drop your friends and make all new ones, but consider what you look for in a friend and what friends of yours embody qualities you wish to embody yourself. By seeing what skills and traits your friends possess that could benefit your personal growth, you gain a better understanding of what friends you aspire to make in the future. By increasing the size of your circle of people who inspire and motivate you, the process of rebirth and personal growth become a lot less daunting.
Imagine this, you have a friend that is constantly down and looking for things to complain about. They complain that life is unfair and that nothing they want will ever work out for them. They believe that the idea everything happening for a reason to be a load of BS and every time you are around them, they start to make you believe it is true. They drag down your energy and leave you feeling hopeless and pessimistic. Now think of your current self getting ready for the rebirth process; is there anything from this person’s personality that would benefit you in any way during this process? Probably not, so this is a sign to write this person off and not surround yourself with that toxic energy.
Now imagine the opposite. Picture a friend that is incredibly ambitious and is always starting personal projects and following through on things they say they want to do. They believe firmly that the Universe has a plan for everyone and that if you keep your energy high enough, you will reach yours. You leave this friend feeling constantly hopeful and happy. Now, as before, think of your current self preparing for rebirth; how can this friend benefit you on your path?
Well, first of all, the quality of ambition is something you really wish to embody yourself and surrounding yourself with people like this one friend will help motivate you to remain focused on your own personal products. Also, their hope and positive energy pertaining to the Universe is something that you also strongly believe in and choosing to align yourself with that energy is important to you. “Your vibe attracts your tribe”, so you want to keep this friend close and realize what qualities in them can contribute to desired qualities in you.
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The chapter ended there which, looking back, seems a bit disappointing to me because there is so much more that I could have talked about! Aside from the people in your life, there is so much to be said about how you conduct yourself day to day. Sure, the people you surround yourself with can be key driving factors in your personal growth, but no amount of good people can make you change or move forward if you put no effort in.
So, if I were to continue this chapter now, it would go a little something like this:
“But the people in your life aren’t the only driving factor in your journey to a new self. When approaching a new version of you, you need to think about what the new version of you would do in certain situations, that the old you wouldn’t do! For example, the old you may get home from work and immediately lay in bed watching Netflix instead of doing anything productive. However, the new you that you aspire to be would much rather go to the gym or read a book after work before settling into bed and watching Netflix.
By prioritizing productivity, you are taking an active step in becoming a more well-rounded version of yourself, but you are preventing burnout by still allowing yourself time to relax at the end of a long day. The point of changing your behavior to align with your new self, isn’t to deny yourself of simple creature comforts and to become a machine, it is prioritizing your growth goals first then allowing yourself to relax once positive steps have been made.
When creating a blueprint of your new self, you need to understand that even the most well-oiled machine needs some time to rest and re-calibrate. The new you isn’t going to be a perfect superhuman and you are going to have to make sure to be realistic in your expectations of your personal transformation before diving in head first. But creating a new self is more than just saying you’re new.”
It may not be much, but I think that little bit helped tie the rest of the chapter together and gave it a more solid conclusion! I hope you are enjoying this little series and I still have a lot more from this project that I am looking forward to sharing.
Jess~
JessofEarth 
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