For 10 weeks, I’ve been coming here each Tuesday and offering what amounts to lessons I’ve learned the hard way. I figured that as long as I didn’t ask anyone to do anything that I hadn’t done, or a down a dose of a medicine that I hadn’t tasted tenfold, then I’d be ok; no one would get their nose out of joint.

I’ve been a glass half empty kind of guy most of my life. Over the past few years, I’ve gotten better at seeing things in a more positive light, at least most of the time. I still have my moments when cynicism gets the best of me, but those bouts are less frequent and they don’t last as long. Heck, I scare myself sometimes with my positive mindset.

When you are serious about reinvention like I’ve been, and you keep at it, you acquire a longer view of personal growth and goal-attainment; this even yields to some pleasant surprises. Things and events that you never would have imagined 8-10 years ago become part of your personal history.

Always comparing yourself to someone else can leave you frustrated. There is a great deal of truth to that adage that reminds us to “smell the roses.” If you don’t, you rob yourself of the full experience and maximum benefit from all of your hard work and doggedness along the path of fail, fail, succeed, fail, succeed, fail, succeed, succeed….and so on.

Life is good right now, not because of circumstances but because I’ve found a place in my life that I never thought would be possible for me; a place where I’m comfortable (most of the time) being me. It’s a place where even if you don’t like me, I still like me.

I can’t tell you how to arrive at that place. I know what I did to get there and there are still times when that calm deserts me and I fret I may not be able to get it back. Then I remember to breathe.

I’m not going to lie. Having a special partner like I’ve been fortunate to have for more than 30 years is nothing to take for granted. I’m not sure I’d be here today if I didn’t have someone like her in my life.

Personal growth posts and mentions of reinvention won’t ever completely disappear; they are a major part of the Jim Baumer Experience. I’ll just try to be a bit more subtle about dispensing my tablespoons of self-help cod liver oil.