Since you’re a reader on Ideapod, it’s clear you’re committed to evolving and growing as a person.
And I know better than anyone that while this growth mindset is amazing to have, it can make you so focused on what’s next that you forget to look back and recognize the progress you’ve made until this point.
Not only that, but as you make progress small step by small step, it may be hard to notice it. But it’s so important to appreciate how far you’ve already come.
I’m sure I’m not the most evolved person in the world, but I can confidently say that I’ve come a long way. These 8 signs in particular have shown me that.
I’ll bet you’ve evolved much more than you give yourself credit for as well – let’s see by having a look at the signs.
1) You’ve accomplished things in life that you previously considered impossible
We get used to the things we already have in life — a great relationship, a degree, a stable job, or anything else.
But look back to how you used to think about these things. Did you ever, at some point, consider them impossible to achieve?
Chances are, if your past self could see you today, they would be amazed and consider these aspects of your life to be a dream.
The only reason why it doesn’t feel like it for you is because you didn’t jump straight from point A to point B — you got there through hard work and overcoming challenges, and whatever circumstances you were in began to feel normal.
On one hand, this is amazing, because now you’ve pushed the goalposts even further and can go for even bigger accomplishments.
But make sure you never take what you have for granted, because there was a time when you didn’t have it — and many others still don’t.
2) You look for connections based on personality traits
When we’re kids or teenagers, many of us describe our ideal romantic “type” by listing their height, hair color, hobbies, or job.
But as we become more evolved, we started to look inside at people’s personality traits instead.
“Love” begins to expand past what we see in Disney movies, and into seeking fulfillment and a spiritual journey together.
The same applies to friendships as well. Appearances tend to matter a little less here in the first place, but evolved people are able to look past any superficial qualities and deep into who the person is in their core.
3) You don’t engage in gossip or negativity
Another way to know if you’ve evolved more than you give yourself credit for is to look at the types of conversations you have.
Do you dissect a colleague’s promotion, a friend’s family problems, or celebrities’ faux pas at the latest gala?
The vast majority of people gossip during a phase of their life, so don’t feel bad if you have.
I used to participate in gossip too, without even realizing it. Nobody had any bad intentions, but it’s natural for humans to talk, and talk about each other.
But at one point, I realized that it can not only be hurtful, but it also leads nowhere.
I started craving conversations with more substance. Now whenever someone else starts to gossip, I just politely change the subject, or remove myself from the conversation.
4) You’ve overcome some difficult things
So far we’ve looked at some very positive signs that you’ve evolved more than you know. But as we all know, the greatest growth tends to come out of adversity and challenges.
So if you want to know how far you’ve come, take stock of the losses and life lessons you’ve gone through over the past few years.
When I asked myself this question, a few things popped into mind immediately – they were so painful and still relatively recent, they are practically seared into my memory.
But a few others I was only able to remember after spending a few minutes pondering the question.
Obviously, this is a very good thing, and I’m not suggesting that you remain stuck on the negative things you’ve experienced.
However, it can be encouraging to remember what you’ve had the strength and capacity to overcome until now.
Personally, it has given me a lot of courage to know that I can face whatever may come next – and I hope you feel equally uplifted too.
5) You’ve built your own belief system
Regardless of whether you used to belong to a particular religion or not, as you evolve you begin to evaluate your beliefs.
This might take the shape of questioning an existing faith. Or maybe you were never religious, but you started pondering the big questions in life and looking for meaning and purpose.
As you do this, you begin to shed beliefs that don’t resonate with you, and even create new ones to take their place.
Another aspect of this is that you’re able to discuss different belief systems with a truly open mind.
I was witness to an incredible conversation recently when I met two young men from Syria – one was a Muslim, and the other used to be but wasn’t anymore.
Somehow, they got into a conversation about the reasons for their choices. And although this can be a very dangerous topic with people you don’t know, both approached it with an extremely open mind and it was one of the most interesting conversations I’ve ever had in my life.
6) You’re more picky about who you spend time with
You may have heard that you’re the sum of the 5 people you spend the most time with.
So as you evolve and become more committed to being the best person you can, you start to become much more picky about who you let into this inner circle.
You look for connections that can truly add something to your life, and you can do the same for them. You stop caring about the number of friends, and focus more on the depth of your relationships.
To be honest, I’ve never had a particularly wide circle of friends. But I used to feel a bit sad about this, and now I actually prefer it.
I don’t need to constantly be around people just so I don’t feel alone. Instead, I save my time for a few people I can connect deeply with and look up to, and value the rest of my time that I can spend with myself.
7) You don’t change yourself based on who you spend time with
Do you feel like you become kind of a different person depending on who you are with?
This is pretty normal — I noticed I also joke around more with certain people, and am a bit more serious around others.
Certain people will bring other particular qualities in you, just like certain puzzle pieces will connect better at certain points than others.
But as you evolve as a person, you build a strong sense of identity that you don’t let anyone else influence. This goes for your personality, opinions, and even things like the clothes you wear.
One friend of mine can take this to a pretty big extreme: he even shows up for weddings wearing a T shirt and regular pants.
It’s debatable whether we should take this concept that far to ignore certain social conventions — but at the same time it’s admirable how confident he is in himself that he’s able to do that, and know that his friends will accept him no matter what.
8) You don’t blame others for your problems
Everybody’s got some problems — and most people also have another person to blame for them.
But the more mentally evolved individuals understand that complaining louder doesn’t make anyone, or the universe, fix your problems for you.
It just makes you more unhappy, drives people away from you, and you’re still left with the same problems without any improvement.
On the other hand, if you take accountability for your problems, or at least don’t try to point fingers, you can take back your power to do something about them.
You can begin to adopt this mindset at any point in your life — and as soon as you do, you’ll feel how much more you’ve evolved.
Final thoughts
There you have 8 signs that you’ve evolved more than you give yourself credit for.
Even if you’re still at the beginning of your growth journey, you can probably recognize at least one of these signs beginning to form in you.
The fantastic news is that you can also consciously choose to start adopting one of these signs at any time you want. Your personal development is fully in your power.
