Becoming Better Grownups: Rediscovering What Matters and Remembering How to Fly

Becoming a better grownup is not about achieving more. Part of being a better grownup is letting people know they are enough—including yourself. It's realizing that every single day is another layer of fresh color on the masterpiece of a life you're painting. It's handing out trophies to let people know they've wowed you by simply being the best at who they are. Maybe it's even creating a trophy for yourself, holding it, and owning it.

You and I are more than our names. We are more than our professions. We are a glorious mishmash of decisions and indecisions. We are a collection of loves and longings. Khalil Gibran said, "Work is love made visible." As someone trying to be a better grownup, I want that to be true of me. I want the things I'm doing to reflect who I really am and all that I really move.

No one is better suited to be you than you. You are perfectly cast in your role, and we need you. Children need you. The world needs you. Even though they might feel inadequate, great grownups show up. So, show up. Show up.

Age is irrelevant. It is what you do with your life that counts.

When you get busy, you tend to just complain or assume everyone knows what you love. Somehow the most important thing about what we do and why we do it — the love — had become something we didn't speak of enough.

There is a word in Ghana, sankofa, that means to move forward by going backward. Some translate it to mean "go back and get it.

Wherever you go, wherever you are today, hope is right there too. Just as we look at children and see hope, they can look at you and see hope standing in front of them. Because hope is right where you are. You are sneaking hope into every place you go. Just by being you. You're a masterpiece of hope.

Often these are not grand gestures, but small acts of caring and daring that have a direct impact on people. It's joyfully rebelling against childishness to embrace a childlikeness. It's trading selfishness for generosity, entitlement for compassion, fear for fascination, and anger for amazement.

It's science : You're here. You take up space. You matter.

With a growth mindset, there's no end to what someone might be able to do. It's the idea that we can always be learning and advancing, in every area of our lives. A tough patch is not an automatic failure; it's a challenge. We just have to be willing to grow.

Maybe you're discouraged. Keep making anyway. Your best work might not be fully recognized. Keep making anyway. You might be misunderstood. You might feel forgotten or ignored or have your name misspelled in the newspaper. Keep making anyway.

Now and again, we could all benefit from a visit into our pasts. Light could be shed on where our insecurities came from. Where our anger began. Where our joy was lost. Bringing this understanding of who we are into the present can help shape the way we embrace everything.

Part of growing up is discovering your power in the world.

This is all a journey, and it's far better when not taken alone.

If can create safe spaces to be inner explorers of fears and doubts, mysteries and wonders, and explore those places together, we'll see a world with more heart. More listening. More sharing. More exploring. More inviting.

Sometimes insecurities can scream so loudly that you become unable to hear all the great possibilities whispering underneath them.

I guess this is what it means to be alive in a world where there is death: to love.