Journey of Self - Intro & Discussion

[MagicJ]

Hey All.

We are all experiencing the journey navigating the 'process' of what we must do but what about the impact on our 'self'?

This is a series of threads to identify, discuss & understand what we are experiencing emotionally & mentally so we can gain a toolkit of how to work through these changes.

I'll setup each major topic as a separate thread so we can keep discussions there & welcome a open chat here that shares more generally what our journey of self has been like!

I hope this series of related threads proves useful to existing and new members alike!

 

[MagicJ]

I have found that my journey has been easier than a lot of members yet I haven't coped as well as I thought.

Recently I have questioned everything about who I am, the values that I stand for, who am I if it isn't a Husband or Father, given such a huge part of my life has been defined by these roles.

It's clear to me that the journey of growth that started with my divorce is nowhere near complete and there is still a long way to go.

I have the luxury of seeing my children every day but not the stability of moving on with my life, so Survival Mode or Limbo is where I have to exist for now.

I'm not sure that I was in reality okay with that, floating between anxious, frustrated or calm but now I know that what came before is no more & with that realisation I have been able to let go of that version of me and become okay with just being.

As I peel away the layers of who I am, it becomes harder to let those experiences go without facing head-on where that life had led me.

The beauty of such introspection is that the growth it may bring is a version of me that is ready to begin anew, making each interaction with my children positive & patient alongside an approach to the other areas of my life that hopefully ensures my next partner is one great for all of us.

In this journey I have turned to Ikagi, a Japanese philosophy that helps find true purpose, a brief intro below:

According to the Japanese culture, one way to a more meaningful and purposeful life is to discover your ikigai (ee-key-guy). Roughly translated as ‘a reason for being’ or ‘a reason for getting up in the morning,’ finding one’s ikigai provides a reason for living even when faced with adversity, hardship, and suffering. To discover your ikigai, you must first identify: what you love, what the world needs, what you can be paid for, and what you are good at. Ikigai can be found at the point at which these four elements converge

I've attached a short guide on this which includes an exercise on the same, if you want to explore this more.

MJ