Respect Your Old Self

Watch the episode here:

• Remember who you were
• Recognize your growth
• That is YOU
• Give yourself compassion

Hey, what’s shakin’? Hey, I’m Rick Jordan. Today, we’re going all in. I used to do this I looked at used to look back at photos of me from when I was really big and be like, Oh, I don’t even know that person, you know that person, it’s just hard to even put myself back in those shoes right now because I don’t relate to that mindset anymore. And that’s actually key in what I’m going to tell you about today because I started doing this recently. And it actually spurred a lot of thoughts inside of me. Because if you look back at who you were 10 years ago, and maybe even a year ago, there’s a lot of growth that can happen in a very short period of time. And we’ll talk about that today, too, because of the growth that you actually made. Prior to that took a long, long time to get to where you were going. 

There’s a concept I really want you to grasp today. And this is so important, because there are chapters in life or their seasons, and you can take a look at those things and be like, yeah, that was a definitive moment in time for me, or a definitive period in time. And it’s almost like, you turn the page, now, it’s a different chapter in your life, that’s all very, very true. except the thing, is that when you when you’re looking at a book, you can always go back to those chapters and reread them. Sometimes you need to, in order to remember what happened in order to, consume the information more, because you might not have been able to realize everything in the moment that you were going through those times. And here’s the concept that I want to talk to you about because some of us have a tendency to ignore who we were. And that completely dismisses that is a disrespect of yourself a completely dismisses the growth that you’ve had since that, okay, because here’s the thing, to fully embrace who you are becoming, you have to fully embrace who you were, did you catch that, to fully embrace who you are becoming, you have to embrace who you were. 

This is like turning those pages back on the book, and all those things. So if I look at a photo of myself, when I was 90 pounds heavier, and I say that wasn’t me, that’s lying to myself, that is disrespecting myself in the work that I put into where I am right now. Because I mean, weight loss is a great example of this, or any kind of growth whatsoever it could be in business, could be in relationships could be an emotional control. You could say, oh, I used to fly off the handle with all those things like that. I don’t even know that person anymore. But you do. You absolutely know that person in order to know yourself now and who you will continue to grow into, you have to know that person. Because you learned so many important things during that phase of your life during that season that you can draw back from, it’s like picking that book up again, and going to that page that paragraph that sentence and saying, Oh man, I remember when I used to think this way. I’m glad that I don’t anymore, and you start to become grateful. And recognizing the growth. This is a look back at everything that you’ve done, you have to embrace who you were, you have to accept who you were. Because most likely at that time, you didn’t know any better. 

So let yourself off the hook. It’s time to give yourself a little compassion. Because where you are right now is now where you were 10 years ago, no matter how bad you may think it would be right now. I know you’ve had growth since then. Even if it’s small, there may be some areas that you haven’t had any growth in. And maybe that’s the same thing. And that’s another reason for embracing who you were. Because you can look back at those pages and be like, Oh, wow, I still have some of the same patterns. Why? Why am I that way, I think I need to make a shift right now. When you take a look back at some of those things. Or maybe you’re like, geez, I thought I’d be further along than I am right now. And that’s okay. That is perfectly okay. And it’s normal to feel that way. Probably because you haven’t fully embraced who you were taking that look back and taking an inventory in stock and a measurement of how far you’ve come to where you’re at right now is the only way to set yourself up and embrace who you are becoming. Because all of us are becoming something all of us can become greater. in who we are all of us can grow. All of us can become a better version of ourselves. All of us can learn new skills, and all of us can handle things better. We can embrace who was who we are becoming by embracing who we were. We have to so as you continue to look and say I want to be there in a year if you look back because it’s the truth when you have these learnings to pull from in your entire life on how you dealt with a situation how you change how you made an important decision. How you even stayed stuck for many years. 

That’s an important one to look back at and say especially where you’re at right now how you stayed stuck for so many years, maybe eight years, maybe seven years, maybe 11 years, where you stayed in a situation. And now you’re looking back and like, Man, I’m glad that I moved on, I am grateful that I learned from that, to where I’m not in that same space anymore. Now I know because of that, I know what to look for, because of who you are becoming. You continuously practice these things and build those muscles, of how to respond to situations that might come up. Because what you face before this is important, what you face before those difficulties will come back up in your life again, and you don’t want to have to relearn the lesson. It’s just reinforcing things. It’s the same thing when you work out, you continuously hit the same muscle groups, at certain periods of time, because you continue to build those muscles. As you continue to face a situation you get better and better and better. But who you are becoming as you continue to grow in those areas, embracing that means embracing who you were taking a look back to look forward. It’s so important. 

Now you’re thinking it’s like, but I don’t like who I was. You may not. You may absolutely not. Because you can look back and you’re like Man, I mean, I’ve heard this with people, right? And this is actually very important. Maybe you’re gonna go out and date somebody who’s been divorced. This was an important thing, right? It’s a little bit of relationship advice. Right now. Okay? Or maybe this is a job interview, right? Maybe somebody who got fired. That’s another great, great scenario for this. A good question to ask that person is what did you learn? And if they consistently blame the other person, like they don’t say anything about themselves that they could have been in a different space, a different headspace, and done anything differently and take any responsibility for the outcome of that whatsoever, run for the freakin hills, do not hire that person. Do not get involved with that potential partner. 

Get out of there now. Because those people are not embracing who they were. They’re still not looking back and saying, oh, man, I think I should take some responsibility for that. They’re not looking back and saying, Oh, I could learn some things from there. Which means that they are becoming nothing. Did you hear me on that? If you refuse to embrace who you were, or you’re looking at somebody else in vetting them, for to date them, to marry them, to hire them, and they refuse to look back at who they were and embrace who they were by taking responsibility. They are becoming nothing. When you refuse to embrace who you were, you will become nothing, sir, to fully embrace who you are becoming. You have to embrace who you are.

Go ALL IN.