New Year, New Beginnings
Every year the collective of the world makes new year’s resolutions/intentions and by mid-February most of them have been abandoned. We settle into what is comfortable and move on with our lives. Even though most resolutions are broken or forgotten, it is our optimism and desire for bettering ourselves that keeps us going with this yearly cycle.
As you think about new year’s resolutions you need to think about growth. People are always optimistic at the beginning of the year for growth. Growth comes from continuously working on yourself and continuously wrestling with your faults and trying to change them. Everyone is always a work in progress, never resigning their flaws as permanent. Accepting their faults as weights to be lifted, routinely, building strength and character with time. Our faults give us perspective, humility and empathy.
Growth is not something our residents just get to abandon. While everyone has long forgotten their resolutions, our residents are tirelessly working on bettering themselves. This is where our class Rising Stars comes in. It is a chance for our residents, in a group setting with other residents, to work on themselves. They go through exercises like listing their personality traits, positive and negative and talents they may have. In one class, a resident didn’t list any talents and one by one the other residents started listing his talents for him. It was a powerful moment. They also get to work through issues with one other in a supervised setting that allows for positive conflict resolution. It is a confidence building class where residents get to really go inward and see themselves clearly.
Making the choice to be better is something our residents have to constantly work on. To realize they maybe didn’t get the best start in life due to circumstances in or out of their control but that doesn’t mean it has to rule their future. They can turn things around and be in control of their life and know they are strong enough to get through it all.
