Hindsight

   Hello Friends, have you ever heard the saying, "Hindsight is 20/20"?  We use it often to refer to the fact that it's usually easier to look back and see what we could have or should have done than to see and judge clearly in the moment.  I had one of these situations lately.  I had been dealing with a host of troubling physical issues, but mentally I hadn't connected them all.  I kept placing the blame for this symptom or that on one thing or another, never realizing they were all pointing to the same thing.  It wasn't until things got really bad that it occurred to me get my eyes checked.  Turns out, the problem was my eyes, and all the symptoms I had been blaming on other things were actually connected to the defect I was dealing with.  It was an easy fix, but because I had been ignoring the signs, or rather, not seeing them correctly, I hadn't been able to deal with the problem.  

  Oftentimes we face similar situations in our personal development.  Perhaps we have been seeing different signs or symptoms of an area we need to change, but we continue to ignore them, blame them on someone or something else, or push it off to deal with later.  But it's not until we begin to connect the dots and seek out treatment that we will realize the full extent of how much this has been affecting us. 

  Let me give an example of this which might illustrate what I am talking about.  We will call our fictitious character George.  George's main issue is that he has not chosen to grow and develop himself personally and improve his skillset as he knows he should.   However, George does not see this as the root issue.  Here is what he sees.  George sees he hasn't gotten the promotion he wants at work.  He blames it on his boss not liking him.  Instead of taking the time he should be to invest in developing himself, George has instead begun spending more and more time out at the bar with his friends in the evening telling them about his troubles at work.  There he eats unhealthy food and drinks extra calories and comes home later and later.  But George doesn't see how this is affecting him either.  What George sees is that he has started to gain weight, and he doesn't feel great about himself.  He blames it on stress from his job.  George's wife is also becoming frustrated that he spends less and less time with her because he is out every night, and she begins to be short tempered with him.  He notices this symptom too, but he assumes it is just stress from his wife's job causing her to feel negative towards him.  I could go on, but I think you get the picture.  George has a lot of symptoms in his life, but the root cause is his failure to develop himself by reading and learning.  He needs someone to help him connect the dots.

  Most of us, like George, have trouble seeing what the root cause of our symptoms is on our own.  Just as I had to go to an eye doctor and then a specialist to find out exactly what was wrong and how to fix it, we often need outside help to put together the symptoms in our personal lives.  If you have been dealing with some issues in your life but are struggling to determine the real problem on your own, here are two ways you can more easily see the signs in your own life.  

  The first way is to surround yourself with a few close friends or family members who know you well and can hold you accountable.  If you are seeing a lot of symptoms but aren't sure what the root cause is, maybe it's time to ask someone who can look at the whole picture from the outside.  We tend to live in denial about our own issues. But those closest to you may be able to give you insight. Just be sure to only take advice from the right people (people who have what you want, are who you want to become, or have done what you want to do), not just any person around you.  Everyone has an opinion.  Choose wisely whose you listen to. 

  The second thing is to continually grow yourself by reading and learning daily.  While the author of a book or the speaker of a podcast may not know you personally, they probably know people like you.  They may even have been like you at one point.  And as you listen to or read what they have to say, you may find that their wisdom and insight opens your eyes to some symptoms in your life and how to fix them.  

  Whatever issues you are dealing with in your life, don't keep ignoring the signs.  Instead, open your eyes, grab a friend who can help you see clearly, and seek out wisdom from experts who have been there.  Hindsight may be 20/20, but having clarity now is far more important. You may not be able to solve every frustration, but if you look at your symptoms, you can begin to treat your issues from the root cause and avoid many more problems down the road.  It's time to stop playing the blame game and start treating the real issue. I can't wait to see you succeed!

~K.L.W.