7 Lessons Learned

For me, this year has been filled with all kinds of new adventures and experiences but when I look back on everything from 2011, I think that it will be my trip to New Zealand with Habitat for Humanity that will stand out as my defining moment.  Now I've written plenty on my trip in this blog already, but today on the 7^th day of Christmas, I would like to look back on the incredible journey I went on and give you 7 things I learned while in New Zealand.

1)      I am capable of doing things I may think that I can’t do and I am the only one who can limit myself simply but thinking that I am incapable. 

2)      No matter where in the world you are from, how many years you have lived, how accomplished professionally you are, or how different your background, education or ethnicity might be, all you need is one common goal to completely level the playing field.

3)      You can learn something new every day if you open your eyes and ears and are willing to accept other people’s advice, knowledge and life experiences.

4)      We can live our lives perfectly content inside the comfortable confines of our every day bubbles but if we push ourselves outside of our comfort zones and challenge ourselves, you just might see that your comfort zone stretches further than you ever imagined.

5)      Oscar Wilde said, “Be yourself, everyone else is taken.”  Sometimes it takes a group of complete strangers to remind of exactly who you are and make you feel like that person is better than the version of you that you are pretending to be.

6)      At the end of a task, you will feel a great sense of accomplishment knowing that you’ve completed something, but it is the journey as a whole that you took to get to that end result that was your greatest achievement. 

7)      Never let yourself be defined.  Constantly be surprising people with all the great things you will do.

I chose to write about this trip today because this morning I opened an email from my team leader from Habitat for Humanity New Zealand.  The email included journal entries from everyone on the trip and as I took a little stroll down memory lane while reading them, I realized I had to include this experience in my 12 days of Christmas countdown.  So I will end today’s 7th day of Christmas post with the 7 words of advice that lead me to Habitat and this amazing trip: Challenge What You Think You’re Capable Of.