Ingrid Trobisch, The Confident Woman, 자신이 지나고 있는 인생의 단계를 이해하라

Ingrid Trobisch, The Confident Woman: Finding Quiet Strength In a Turbulent World, HarperCollins, 1993

Knowing who we are is the first step to confidence. A confident woman does not run around looking for herself, because she has learned to accept who she is physically, emotionally, and mentally… Confidence begins in your heart. It’s the feeling of being special, of knowing that you are unique. Just as there are no two snowflakes exactly the same, so God has created each one of us as an individual. We can be confident in our uniqueness… we can even have the courage to be different. To become the one I am created to be, isn’t that my great work in life? (9)

1. Understanding your family of origin

We also need to look at our birth order. A first-born or only child is going to face life differently than a second-born or even a third-born. Each position has advantages and disadvantages. The birth order of a husband and a wife will also have a lot to do with their being comfortable together. If a first-born son, there may be a real struggle for understanding and for power. (11)

2. Recognizing the Stages of Life

Another important help to self-knowledge is to understand that we live life by stages or chapters. We can think of our years as being divided into seven-year cycles, each cycle representing a new stage of life. It takes seven years for a newborn to grow through infancy and become a schoolchild. After seven more years the child becomes an adolescent. At the age of twenty-one, one is a young adult; at the age of twenty-eight, a more mature adult. (13)