When You Don"t Recognize Your Past Self Anymore (and It Is Actually Ok)

[Dan Arnautu]

I created this topic just to share my amazement to how much growth is actually possible.

I was looking at some videos of me just 2 years ago, and I realized that no aspect, and I literally mean NO ASPECT of my past self is present anymore. I did not recognize who I was looking at in those videos.

Everything changed radically since I took Self-Actualization seriously. Everything from my body, the way I talk, to my confidence, insecurities, doubts, abilities, limiting beliefs, neurosis changed in a good way and it feels like I upgraded myself 10x in just 2 years since I've gone out of highschool. So many new habits, changes in perspective and patterns everywhere that I did not see before with my mind's eye.  

Uncertainty continues to increase, and I am starting to relate to what Socrates said: ”All that I know is that I know nothing.”

So many things that beg to be mastered. To think that these were only 2 years, and that I have at least 60 to go (please don't get into nonduality here, you know I'm talking only about human existence) is exciting and scary at the same time. I wonder if these shifts will continue to happen as often as they did until now or if there will be a slowdown (in the case that I will put in the same amount of work that I did until now).

Now I see that the majority of people die without experiencing even 0.1% of what life has to offer and that is pretty sad.

Feel free to share your own experiences!

[HelloThere]

Awesome. Significant change tends to take a long time for me so 2 years sounds pretty damn fast even.

When you know something has worked and have real solid results then you also know the steps to get there. At least I find that with things I've learned. Feel free to share some specific things you changed that you feel built the main foundation for this growth in different areas ;]

[Dan Arnautu]

@HelloThere Things I've changed include:

• Moving temporarily to the country's capital for college (Bucharest, Romania)
  • Here I started working with the best guitar teacher in the country and one of the best in Europe
    • My guitar skills improved more in 2 months than in 7 years of self taught work
    • Also, the teacher made me part of his elite group of guitar students (and almost all his students are part of the greatest acts in the country) - he coaches professional musicians
  • The independence I got from the whole situation skyrocketed my confidence
  • Being a philosophy student put me in a group of like minded people to whom I can relate more than my past drinking buddies and due to the nature of the degree I got to work on my social skills a lot and improve my ability to express my own opinion with relevant facts.
    • Also, like Leo said, it also helped me see through the bullshit in other people's logic
  • I realize that the quality of my life increases dramatically when I am not in the presence of my parents (I am not bossed around, I do whatever I want to do, I am no longer influenced by their limiting beliefs and bad habits)
    • I love them, don't get me wrong, but I would rather not live with them
• Going down to 8% bodyfat and putting on a high amount of muscle mass, after being fat my whole life
  • Now everybody I know would kill to have my kind of physique, but they are not willing to put in the work
• From not reading at all to devouring information 24/7
  • Since starting college I finished many courses on different topics (health, wealth, love, happiness) and read more than 20 books, from psychology and business books to autobiographies, spiritual books and so on
    • From that, I now get to see patterns everywhere, and am starting to know exactly how situations have come to be as they are and what is needed for change to happen
    • Also, it makes me speak with a lot more confidence in every situation because I know exactly what I am talking about and I can support it with facts
    • This also makes me more attractive to girls
• Correcting bad habits and putting new ones in place
  • meditation
  • waking up everyday at 6 A.M
  • fasting for 6 hours after waking up (when I am dieting)
  • mindfulness (being aware of my own emotions and reactions and redirecting them in a positive way)
    • which means no more compulsive behaviour
  • eating clean
  • making my bed 
  • planning every day in time blocks
  • listening to audiobooks and podcasts when I do chores, shower or commute (sometimes I meditate when commuting though)
  • cut cable TV two years ago
  • quit gaming almost completely (I used to play for hundreds and hundreds of hours), though I still indulge for a short while after long stretches of time
    • same for movies and documentaries (max 1 per day before I go to sleep) - before there were days when I would watch for 8h straight
  • stopped buying useless crap and started investing in myself

These are some of the changes. I will edit the post if more come to mind.

Edited April 28, 2017 by Dan Arnautu

[Dan Arnautu]

@Dingus Lmao 

[HelloThere]

43 minutes ago, Dan Arnautu said:

Being a philosophy student put me in a group of like minded people to whom I can relate more than my past drinking buddies

Yeah drinking buddies are ok but that sounds great. Something to envy

43 minutes ago, Dan Arnautu said:

Going down to 8% bodyfat and putting on a high amount of muscle mass, after being fat my whole life

Getting there slowly but surely. No desire for a bodyfat goal though.

43 minutes ago, Dan Arnautu said:

meditation

Method? And what efffect has it has on you during this period?

43 minutes ago, Dan Arnautu said:

waking up everyday at 6 A.M

Why?(not that it's bad) Though seems like no flexibility room for meet ups/weekends.

43 minutes ago, Dan Arnautu said:

mindfulness (being aware of my own emotions and reactions and redirecting them in a positive way)

Been pretty big for me as much as I've been able to catch them.

43 minutes ago, Dan Arnautu said:

planning every day in time blocks

Yeah I feel this is a major one that I haven't fine tuned yet. Slowly adding good habits instead for now.

43 minutes ago, Dan Arnautu said:

listening to audiobooks and podcasts when I do chores, shower or commute (sometimes I meditate when commuting though)

Awesome for for cleaning/cooking/commuting.

43 minutes ago, Dan Arnautu said:

quit gaming almost completely (I used to play for hundreds and hundreds of hours), though I still indulge for a short while after long stretches of time

Didn't think I'd be able to kick this one but managed to get it down to a few times a week and not for hours and hours daily. Love gaming to bits but it's such a fucking time sink that you might not have time left for "life".

@Dan Arnautu Anyway thanks for the awesome reply.

Edited April 28, 2017 by HelloThere

[Dan Arnautu]

7 minutes ago, HelloThere said:

Method? And what efffect has it has on you during this period?

Currently doing guided mindfulness meditation (Headspace - part 3 of the Discovery Series). I can now relate to my thoughts and emotions in a different way and not take them so seriously.

9 minutes ago, HelloThere said:

Why? (not that it's bad) Though seems like no flexibility room for meet ups/weekends.

When I wake up at 6 A.M. I get a lot more work done and have more time to relax. Also, this early in the morning no one can bother me in any way. I like to meditate as soon as I wake up and I can savor my coffee with a good book. Broke this habit unfortunately because of so many vacations and need to get it dialed back in. RIght now I go to sleep at about 4:00 in the morning and wake up at 14:00 in the afternoon (which is pretty bad).

14 minutes ago, HelloThere said:

Anyway thanks for the awesome reply.

I need to thank you for showing interest in my life situation.