Current mood: cheerful
Christmas greetings,
Another year, another letter, with another opening sentence saying 'Hello', inviting you to enjoy a moment with me on the receiving side of this personal reflection. This one might sort of take the form of a 'blog' as I have neglected to maintain that aspect of my creative endeavors this year. Next year will be different, however, as I climb out of my 'golden' 31st year of life into the generally unmentioned 32nd year, and it will be different for the obvious reasons that life is always changing, but also for the less commonly expressed reasons that I will continue to purposely seek change as I attempt to become someone better than I am right now.
That reminds me of a thought I have been having lately. My ideas have divided the concepts of being an 'achiever' versus the concept of being a 'becomer'( I know that's not a word but I think you understand it anyway.)
My basic descriptions of the two are as follows:
An 'Achiever' seeks tangible or ostensible marks of accomplishment. ie - Climbing to the top of a mountain, landing that big paying job, running a marathon, slam dunking a basketball, etc. This isn't always for the wrong reasons but the extrinsic value of said accomplishments seems like the primary motivation for doing them. Being able to say 'I can do that/I did that/I have that/I own that' is pretty much totally self-serving and holds no lasting positive purpose in ones life. Naturally, the 'achiever' will incur certain levels of positive intrinsic change in their personal extension and improvement needed to attain those particular achievements, which is certainly not to be overlooked. I am merely pointing to the primary intent of their motivations and feel they are often overvalued for seemingly harmless reasons.
A 'becomer' seeks for that personal change which is most visible only to oneself. A dedicated quest for self-mastery and focused purpose - something easily overlooked by casual observation and very difficult to measure, generally speaking. It is the silent battle of learning and growing through trial and error, intended and incidental alike. Naturally, the becomer will experience a certain level of achievement incidental to one's methods for self-improvement and change, as the mechanics of achievement often foster very productive potential for such. The only true goal of a 'becomer' is to become the best intended self possible. To a Christian it is to become like Christ. To do and say what He would, to reflect His attributes in every manner, to serve others as He did, to come to know Him as He knows us.
Achievement focuses on a specific state or a particular moment in time. Becoming focuses on enduring behavioral changes and continued self-improvement. I have been thinking about these concepts lately as my goals and reasons for them have been examined and hopefully corrected. I know I am not as much the 'becomer' as I would like to be but I know that where my heart is, there I will be also. Breaking through the tendencies and imperfections of human life is ever part of the challenge... but I know that time will certainly offer me many opportunities to find that path... again and again and again.
Anyway... back to my personal update on life(enough of the heavy thinking and back to
something lighter!):
It has been a grand year indeed. My job at the camera shop unfortunately came to an end as the company I worked for closed the location I was working at. I was blessed, however, to find an awesome job teaching driver's ed slightly before that happened, as well as a way cool seasonal position at Border's Books. The teaching job will fit quite nicely into my plans to start my path through college next year since I can pretty much only teach the students when they're out of school themselves, leaving me the daytime to do my own schooling. So it's all a good fit so far and I look forward to moving forward in life down that particular path of progress.
I had a great year of friendship and family experiences. On Thanksgiving all six of the kids in my family were able to get together for the first time in years. That's always pretty cool. It has been really nice reconnecting with many old friends from my distant past through facebook and otherwise(several random encounters in person, even.) I have gotten to do a wide variety of awesome activities from hiking, to short film making, to snowboarding, to table tennis, to roadtripping, and all kinds of things in between. I have to thank all of you whom I was so delighted to share these experiences with! You truly made my year something memorable! I have also enjoyed seeing the personal successes of many friends in very dramatic ways. You inspire me greatly and I look forward to seeing your bright futures intertwining with my own!
I was invited in to be the bass player for a band called 'The Janitors of Chaos' and enjoyed practicing with them for well over half the year, although at much less frequent intervals than a band should practice, generally speaking. The recent job changes and schedule challenges may have seen a collapse in our ability to maintain the band at the moment but I hope we are able to continue on with it next year, hopefully performing some shows and the like. I have also been very slowly learning to sing and play a song or two and might go play a coffee shop or two once I have enough material. It's always a fun, challenging experience to perform live, plus it motivates me to actually finish some of the songs I have started writing(some of them are now years old for no reason other than me not finishing them!)
I've recently rediscovered some of my old hobbies such as table tennis and playing games(Settlers of Catan and Magic.) One of them keeps me more in phyical shape while the other one keeps me in mental shape. It's a nice diversionary combination... I wonder if they could literally be combined somehow? Hmmm...
Well folks, If you're still reading this I'm quite impressed. I know this isn't a very good Christmas gift but it's all I got at the moment. I love the opportunity to reflect on the things I cherish the most. Things like my friends and family. Things like my own testimony of the gospel of Christ. I know He lives and loves us all. He did all things for our salvation and joy as we are His beloved family. I know that we can truly find peace and happiness if we learn to follow Him in faith and hope. I hope you all have a splendid new year full of change and progress and I hope it slowly becomes the life you are always seeking! I love you all immensely and thank you for being in my life on purpose!
With love and gratitude,
Aaron M. Castillo
