This piece is more a collection of personal observations and thoughts from my life. It has an overarching question that, I feel, links these themes and ideas, but it takes some explanantion, so I will do my best. 

However it comes out, I still feel these ideas very deeply and they have been formulating inside me for many years now. 

It goes like this… 

In life I have encountered two main types of people. Those who seemingly reach a certain point and plateau, whereby any further change, learning or development seems almost impossible; at the very least highly improbable. And those who seem to be ever evolving and growing exponentially. 

The first type are the people that are exactly the same as the person you may have met in high school or have known for many, many years. They can be a relative or practically anyone in the street. 

Nothing has changed on a behavioral, emotional, intellectual or personality level. 

When you meet such people it takes a relatively short time to ‘get to know’ them, who they are, and their limits. 

This can be endearing in its predictability, but… it can also mean that the years can cause a wider and deeper separation as you change and they don’t, or can’t. 

And then there are those people, a much smaller group and extremely rare, that have changed and evolved, and continue to do so as life and time moves on. 

They are truly surprising and wonderous to me. 

I have always tried to use my energy and efforts to grow and evolve from each thing that I have encountered in life. It has been my credo for my entire life. 

I realize that there are some things which are strong character traits to my personality but I have also seen a great many areas of change and growth through each new thing that life has presented me. 

Society today seems so obsessed in pushing physical boundaries with such things as extreme weight loss, extreme sport and various other physical pursuits, yet few people think about expanding their emotional and intellectual capabilities or personal development and growth. 

It seems so sad to me and a waste of most of our potential as human beings. 

Over time our physical abilities will change and lessen, but that is not necessarily true of our other dimensions if we make such things a priority and give it meaning. 

I now turn to the topic of illness and physical disability but only in the context of this theme. Originally I thought that becoming physical impaired and chronically ill would limit and halt my abilities to grow as a person and that I may even regress as my world grew smaller and less social, however I am truly amazed at the way I have been able to make some very surprising and valuable changes. It has given my life new meaning. 

Through adversity I have learnt humbleness, empathy, patience, resilience, self worth, prioritizing, emotional honesty and vulnerability, persistence, coping, forgiveness… and much much more. 

It still puzzles me when I encounter people who, although still physically able, have seemingly reached their limits of personal growth, however I recognize and respect their decision to do so. Perhaps they may not have physical limitations but they may have much deeper limitations which influences them on a much more profound level. Again, it is their right and I acknowledge that. 

To me, it only makes those people who have changed and evolved throughout their lives, and who deliberately try to do so, even much more extraordinary and precious. And I am grateful when I encounter them. 

Like shooting stars, they are amazing to behold and a very rare event that we seldom forget. 
Gentle hugs, 

Trish.