Growing Up

Today was another iteration of planning an church event, which involves scheduling, budget, reservations, supplies, etc. Among the planning, there were some soft skills required to discuss people, personalities, and how to handle them.

Today I also spoke to an old friend today, wishing her a happy birthday.  She just turned 37.  We met when she was 21.  We reminisced how we have changed a lot since our innocent college years.  We talked about the good and bad of corporate life, of our different work experiences and professions.  We even laugh at how managers are sometimes not....qualified...well, she was really venting about hers.   

So among all of this, I asked myself..."When did I grow up?"

Some of the things I do nowadays is just typical normal tasks, but if you turn back the clocks of time to an earlier age, I don't think I would have been experienced enough to handle some of these tasks.  Even if I just went back 10 years, I would feel inadequate.

This growing up process comes in little steps.  You try new things, gain new experiences, learn from your mistakes, and understand people more...speaking of which.  Human behavior is probably one of the important things I've learned, and that I am still learning about.  

I'm thankful that the process is slow...and that I haven't necessarily been thrust into situations where I had to dramatically learn something in a quick and maybe painful manner.

But I do enjoy looking back in time, and realize the things that I can accomplish now.  I know I'm still learning more.  But I am thankful that to some degree, I have grown up.