3 areas of your life that need personal-development

Personal development means different things to different people.

For some, it is about capacity building. For others, it is something as trivial as losing weight. My question to you is

What does it mean to you?

 What is personal development?

To Wikipedia, ‘Personal development consists of activities that develop a person’s capabilities and potential, build human capital, facilitate employability, and enhance the quality of life and the realization of dreams and aspirations.’

As infeasible as this may seem, we do need to work on ourselves continuously and consistently to become that person we want to be. We need to work with others to become that confident person who knows what they want and doesn’t let anything stand in their way.  

Aspects of personal development.

There are three fundamental aspects of personal development you want to focus on if you want to be that person who exudes confidence with every step.

• Mental/Emotional health.

Mental health encompasses the emotional, psychological, and social well-being of an individual.

To be emotionally mature is to get to the point where you act, rather than react. To be able to choose when to walk away from confrontations and when to face them. To be able to separate situations from individuals, to be able to look beyond another human’s flaws and build a relationship despite those faults. To see people for more than their mistakes. To be able to understand basic human attributes like love language, temperament, moral gaps, and the likes.

Psychological stability is to be able to view life from a non-bias perspective, to look objectively at life situations without prejudice, to find satisfaction in the simple pleasures of life. To not thrive on the pain or misfortune of other people.

Social well-being is to be able to maintain a good relationship with other members of society. To be able to hold a decent conversation with other people; to be able to proffer solutions to life challenges as they come. To be a productive member of society. This is where your dexterity and acumen come to play.

How much have you grown mentally?

Answering the following questions should give you a picture of where you are in your journey of mental development.

1. How self-assured are you? Or does it looks like something is missing?
2. How do you describe being left alone for a while; Alone or Lonely?
3. How knowledgeable are you?

• Spiritual development.

The second basic aspect of personal development is Spiritual development.

The first step to spiritual growth is to question everything you’ve ever been told about the supernatural. The concept of good and evil; the teachings about right and wrong. God and who he is. To question religion and everything it stands for.

True spiritual growth starts when you find your own answers to these questions when you connect with your inner man, nature, and the universe at large without the barriers of what’s you’ve been told.

For some, this journey leads them back to the conventional religions but for others, it opens to them a new world.

Spirituality brings about peace

Whatever road your quest for answers, be sure it brings you peace for in that peace is your true spiritual growth.

Question your beliefs

1. Were you born into your current religion?
2. If you weren’t born into it, would you have found your way to your current faith?
3. What does your faith represent to you?
4. Do you feel at peace?

• Physical wellness.

The last and perhaps most important aspect of personal development is your physical wellness.

Physical health is a state of being free from illness and disease. To be whole without any health issues.

The body bears the misfortune of being ignored by most. We focus so much on our daily quest that we sometimes forget to fuel the body or notice glitches until they become full-blown disasters.

Physical health is dependent on a lot of deliberate and consistent activities like, eating a balanced diet at regular intervals, not skipping meals especially breakfast, exercising, going for regular medical checkups, and taking supplements if prescribed.

A major step to take in your journey of physical well-being would be to get yourself and your loved ones insured.

There are a lot of insurance options out there, find the one that works for you and get on it.

Your exercise routine doesn’t have to be strenuous, a brisk walk would do. Or you could register at a gym to get the needed motivation and dedication.

While you’re at it, you might want to check your BMI (Body Max Index). A lot of attention has been paid to overweight people that we often forget that some people are underweight and that comes with its own risks also. Some are almost anorexic while others have full-blown anorexia because they want to fit into society’s picture-perfect form.

Here is my one-cent advice to you as you go through your personal-development journey

The journey of self-development is one without a destination as it is a lifelong one. Whatever you’re working on, you want to surround yourself with the right motivation. Get to know what drives you.

 If you’re looking to improve your spiritual life you might want to locate people who share your beliefs and consciously feed your belief. 

Most importantly, never stop asking questions.

Mental health is not spoken of publicly or as much as we would want it to but if you ever need emotional or psychological support, be sure help is just a click away all you need do is ‘google’.

You might want to get yourself a new best friend ‘a diary’. Sometimes all you need to do to get rid of that anger boiling inside is to write. Give it a home outside your head and you’ll be surprised at the calm that comes with doing that.

Love yourself!

This is important. You have to always appreciate how far you’ve come in your mental health journey to keep going. Look at yourself in the mirror every day and say

‘I love you’

It helps.

Love your body, its flaws, and all about it. No one really has a perfect body. Whatever health decisions you make, let it come from a place of self-love and not because you want to look like someone.

 Be happy, eat healthy, love yourself and keep working on yourself.

No one can do you like you!

Writer: Danielle Alli