Relish the Journey into Self-Discovery

"Like wolves who leave the pack, we risk danger, loss, and solitude--the price often paid by those with a passion for discovery. And however the moments may feel, the journey is well worth it." Often that journey is one into self-discovery, and time and experience have taught me that that journey is always worth the risk of 'danger, loss or solitude.'

There are few things as crucial to operating from a place of meaning, fulfillment and authenticity as taking that journey into self discovery. It's about finding out who you really are amidst the fray of voices competing for your attention and affection. It's about wading through the years of intellectual fodder that you have been fed, the religious dogmas, the restraints and constraints that have been artificially imposed upon your psyche, restricting your actions and in many cases depleting your happiness. Til after years of semi-conscious exposure to the emotional and mental elements, you wake up to the reverberating question "Who am I?" And almost in resentment, you are seized with a fierce desire to discover your own interpretation of truth, to draw your own conclusions, to make your own mistakes and learn from them, to be awed by your own internal and external beauty, to be overwhelmed with the depth of your own personhood. 

But if truth be told the journey into self discovery is not without its dangers and pitfalls. Indeed we risk the death of friendships, excommunication from church fellowships, alienation from family members, loss of fortune and maybe even relinquishing fame. Solitude may become our constant companion for many days, and mental and emotional anguish may become all too familiar bedfellows. But the price we pay for independence, authenticity and meaning are minuscule when compared with its rewards. But let's take it one step further  - to understanding the truth that no matter how the moments may feel, the journey itself is rewarding, long before we gain the independence, authenticity and meaning for which we search.

So while we search, while we discover who we truly are, with every eye-opening word we read, every revealing conversation, every heart-rending confession, let's savour the moments. Let's learn to enjoy calling a spade a spade. As we experience the fires of controversy, let's seek to emerge unscathed, unrelenting, undeterred by criticism....Let's mark the milestones of self-discovery with flags signifying our advancement to another level of growth..Let's relish who we are becoming on the way to who we truly are.