Growing pains

A lot of people talk about growth, progressing in life and achieving goals without fully understanding the depth of these concepts. There’s also a perceived theory that for progress in life to happen, one must achieve the goals they’ve set up for themselves, and this will undoubtedly result in growth. But this isn’t entirely true.

When we set goals, we do so from a deep yearning of wanting to be more than what we are presently. Our goals stem from the dreams that we have for our future lives. For us to achieve our goals and ultimately see progress in our lives, we have to be active participants in the process of growth. The process of growth requires a shift of our mental, spiritual, emotional, physical, and social awareness. It’s unfortunate that many people disassociate these concepts by wanting progress in their lives without putting in the work to be able achieve their goals. Many give up at the first sign of distress, detour from the original plan or from receiving “unfavourable” feedback.

What we need to understand or shift our mind-sets towards is that, a chapter of distress could mean preparation for bigger challenges ahead. A detour from the original plan could very well be our saving grace from a disastrous path; and receiving what we deem as unfavourable feedback on what we are pursuing could be just what we need to fine tune what we are working on before sharing it widely. I don’t believe in “unfavourable” feedback, because if we really want to grow, we need to be receptive to receiving constructive feedback and criticism. I believe all of these aspects work hand in hand to solidify our foundation in preparation for what lies ahead. This is critical to ensure our sustenance.

To achieve this, we have to feed and nourish ourselves, our souls and whole beings with the good stuff. We regularly need to examine ourselves to explore what it is exactly that we are feeding spirits. Are we feeding into pot bowls of joy, thankfulness, hard work, and faith or are our bellies grumbling from apathy, negativity, fear, impulsiveness, pity, envy, anxiety?

Job 8:11-12 says, “Reeds can’t grow where there is no water; they are never found outside a swamp. If the water dries up, they are the first to wither, while still too small to be cut and used.”