Welcome to Erebus Growing, a weekly email where I share little snippets of life to help you change and grow into your highest life.

It was a really exciting week with two more interviews, starting to play variant sudoku, picking up fiction reading again, and enjoying a very long but fulfilling week between the 9-5 and the part-time.

I’m excited to eventually be moving on from working two jobs, but I will be as patient as I need to be.

The couple of interviews this past week were incredibly interesting between the two schools. One of them puts together my love of technology and teaching in a way I didn’t know existed and I genuinely think will be a game-changer for education in the next few years. The other seems to build a more slow-paced and semi-rural lifestyle paired with teaching in an environment where I would easily continue my personal growth.

On top of that, I spent a good chunk of the part-time just watering plants and I’m very happy with that. It was one of the reasons I went and got the specific part-time position I did!

We’re off to a slower week with only three week-days at the part-time, so it will be nice.

👨🏻‍💻 Meditation

You must honor every part of you throughout your life, even the parts you don’t like.

When you start building your life intentionally, you are going to come across parts of you that you don’t like.

Maybe you already know what some of them are.

They are just as much a part of you as the parts you do like, no matter what you think.

So, why honor them? Let’s talk about it.

Everything that has happened to you in the past has made you who you are.

Every good thing, every bad thing, every happy and sad moment, every single thing has led you to this moment.

But, for a moment, let’s take a large step back. Events, moments, and incidents are neither good nor bad—they just are.

They exist. We define them and give them meaning.

Let’s talk about one of the things I’m struggling with: food.

When I was growing up as a young child, I lived with my grandparents and was taught that you eat everything on your plate. You don’t let it go to waste.

I learned to eat it all. And, because we couldn’t let it go to waste, I would eat seconds most nights.

They never stopped me.

I associated eating all of the food with good things.

I believe that my grandparents pushed eating all of the food because they had been poorer when they were younger and most certainly went hungry some nights.

I connected “good” with finishing all of the food on my plate and “bad” with not eating it all or throwing food away.

But someone else could have just as easily connected “good” with eating until they were full and then saving the rest of their food (or throwing it out) and connected “bad” with overeating to ensure that they didn’t waste food.

Both are correct.

Finishing all of your food can be “good” and “bad” for different reasons.

It means you’re not wasting money because you’re eating it, but it also means you’re overeating and damaging your health.

It is all in your frame of mind.

Your frame of mind is impacted by so many things in your life (your upbringing, religion, socio-economic status, education, spiritual beliefs, greater society, and relationships just to name a handful!).

It’s important to be aware of these influences in your life.

How does this all apply?

When you start building your life with intention, you’re going to come across parts you like and parts you don’t, but every single part makes you you.

Let me state that again. Every single part makes you, you.

The “good” parts and especially the “bad” parts.

Why honor them all?

Because they’ve made you who you are today and who you want to be tomorrow.

You honor them because it shows you what you want in your life and what you don’t.

You take the time to understand how and why you feel certain ways and you use the information to build your life with intentionality.

You take every experience, no matter how it makes you feel, and use it to drive yourself forward.

📚 Inspiration and Resources
Every week we all consume content and I share my favorites here.

Reflecting.
I’ve been working on building a meditation practice for this year. While I have not been very successful thus far, I plan to by using Insight Timer. It’s a free app (with a premium option) that I found early last year and used relatively consistently for about two months. There are some guided meditations and tools that enable you to create your own custom meditations. Give it a try here.

Learning.
One of the new tools that’s come up again and again in my job search that I’ve found incredibly interesting is the Khan Academy. It has a ton of free courses and I, genuinely, had no idea that such resources had started cropping up. I’m going to be taking some courses for my own interest. Give it a try here. 

📓 Journaling Prompt
Journaling is one of the most important things to do when exploring our own lives. A new prompt for you to use this week is below.

Do you honor every part of yourself?

Until next time, I wish you enough and send you off with love and a sense of urgency in your life.