Everything is in Flux

If you would attain to what you are not yet, you must always be displeased by what you are. For where you are pleased with yourself there you have remained. Keep adding, keep walking, keep advancing.

Saint Augustine
Carthaginian author, saint, & church father (354 AD - 430 AD)

There is always room for improvement in someone's life. It is natural to feel displeasure about where you are in life. One needs to examine life regularly and find out what one need and want at that period.

Everything is in flux. Including needs and wants. One needs flexibility in life above all. One should not be afraid of changes for they are essential part of life and living.

Contentment makes one stagnant. Most creature want comfort, stability ,and status quo.  As St. Augustine said in the quote above, "where you are pleased with yourself there you have remained."  Contentment has a way of making one complacent.  Who would want to leave a comfortable and stable environment?  Not many. He admonishes that one have to "keep adding, keep walking, keep advancing."  He wants everyone to leave their comfort zones and keep growing.  Growth is a change that everyone needs. One can stunt their growth by resisting the changes in their life. Other people in someone's life can also inhibit the growth of an individual, like an overprotective mother who will not let her child explore the world. 

I want to explore this subject because I am an overprotective mother. I have come to terms with a lot of issues involving my daughter's independence but there are still some that remains.  I realized that she needs me to gently push her out of the nest so she can explore the world with my blessings but somehow I still get really anxious about her going away from home.  She needs to add experiences to her life, to walk where she has not walked before, and to advance to the next level of growth.

She went to Maryland to spend Thanksgiving with her bestfriend and her bestfriend's family. This is the first long trip she had taken on her own. I was a bunch of nerves before she left. I can tell that she was very nervous too. I think partly because I unloaded my fears on her before her trip. Thank God that she is a very optimistic and resilient child. I talked to her last night via IM and on the phone today. She seems to be fine where she is.

I like it that my daughter has a sense of adventure. I admire her courage in leaving her comfort  zone. I am glad she is assertive and willing to take chances. I am happy that she is always willing to take a step toward maturity and self reliance.  I am delighted that she seems to instinctively know what she needs and wants at each stage of her life. I am proud to be her mother.