Here I am, literally days away from meeting the little one who’s going to make me a Mother.
Motherhood, a completely new journey, a completely new lifestyle, mindset, and an evolved version of myself.
As the day approaches, I keep having dreams relating back to my past, and I’ve realized, I haven’t taken the time to grieve the past version of myself. Most people associate grief with a negative connotation, but grief can be viewed in a positive light as well.
Instead of simply leaving our past selves behind, it’s important to take the time to honor them for what we endured, lessons we learned, memories we’ve made, and experiences that led us to the next version of ourselves.
It’s obvious that I’ll never be the Exec. Asst at a Private Jet company in Las Vegas, taking helicopter flights to a beautiful remote area to model for photo shoots, or solo nights in my condo making meals for just me ever again. And I’m completely okay with that! That time in my life, and many times before it, served me well.
Although I am beyond excited to move forward into the next version of myself, it’s a healthy and important part of evolution, to pay tribute to and let go of past versions of ourselves. If we don’t take the time to do this, our past can show up as regret, and anxiety in our future.
Here’s some steps on how to positively grieve your past “you” so you can move forward into the new “you”.
1. Forgive! Forgive yourself for any wrong doings, pain, grudges, etc that you are holding onto from your past. These burdens are not for the new you to carry! Leave them with the old you that experienced them.
2. Find the clarity! Once you stop carrying guilt, you’ll be able to see why you needed to learn that lesson. Find comfort in the clarity and allow yourself to move forward with this new awareness.
3. Allow yourself to feel the emotions. Think back to specific moments in life and put yourself in an emotional state of gratitude for who you were at that time. Whether it was a good or bad situation, with the awareness, forgiveness and clarity you now have for yourself, it should be easy to see why you walked that path and find gratitude for it.
4. As we move from one chapter in a book to the next, we realize how important the previous chapter was. Had we of just skipped to a specific chapter, we would feel unprepared and lost. Take with you just what serves you moving forward. The important memories, feelings, etc that serve purpose in your new chapter.