Transformational Growth

What a concept! I had never heard of it until a sales meeting at work this week...apparently this is a new catch phrase for dramatically increasing your business in a relatively short time period. For instance increasing sales or revenue by 30% in one year.  I am not a salesperson and I don't have a business degree; I am an engineer by trade, so this sounds radical to me.  I think it probably would be considered radical even to those in sales.

But it got me to thinking about the concept as it relates to other aspects of my life. How could I have transformational growth in, say, my family, or my diet, or my wardrobe, or whatever? What steps would I have to take and what kind of commitment would be required to really see results? Where would I really want to make changes, and what is just a ridiculous dream of a woman entering middle age?

So, I'm experimenting a little.  My daughter has recruited me to embark on a new exercise program with her. It's called Insanity, and after just 2 days I can see why. I'm not sure my out of shape, couch potato self can handle this for the entire 60 day program, but hey, I'm looking for transformational growth, so I feel like I should at least give it a fair try.

I've also been tossing around the idea of trying to establish a home-based business.  I like my job - most of the time at least - but I sometimes feel burned out and like I'd like to do something different. And I mean different, not just that I'm tired of the bureaucracy and paperwork associated with working for a large corporation, but an entirely new type of work.  That could transform my home life, how often my dog gets walked, and the amount of disposable income I have (which I realize would most likely be negatively at least at first). But I've also come to realize that I don't want my life to revolve around getting up at 6 am, driving 30 miles to the office and sitting on my butt for 9 hours...I want to experience joy in what I do, and have freedom to set my own hours, and make decisions based on me, and live in the moment.  Now that's transformational growth.

Welcome to my world

So you may be wondering exactly what the name of this blog means. It's simply this: I am a mom, I am a daughter, I am an engineer, I am a couch potato, I am a Christian. But none of those things truly define me...I am more than all of them and that is the whole point.


I actually functioned in each of those roles this weekend. My college-age daughter recently moved home after a couple years on her own in Georgia, and we've been working on setting up an apartment in the basement for her. Her boyfriend was visiting from Cincinnati for the holiday weekend, so I got to spend lots of time being mom. We also hosted a family cookout and my mom (age 83) spent the night. It was a four-day weekend for me, which resulted in hour upon hour of tv viewing. And I rarely miss attending church on Sunday. And through all of that I laughed, cried, wore a red sparkly visor, sang patriotic songs, lit the first fire in my backyard, and beat a thunderstorm while grilling out.


Tomorrow it's back to work, and hopefully around 8 am the engineer kicks into gear, while all the other parts vie for little compartments in my heart and mind. We'll see who wins for the next post.