Growth is Painful!
“Throw dirt on me and grow a wild flower”
A friend of mine recently started making significant changes in her life. It’s pretty much a complete overhaul. I gotta say I’m really happy and proud of her. It takes guts to step out of your comfort zone and into the unknown. She inspires me.
I thrive on change and challenge. For over a year now I’ve stepped into the unknown. I used to do it all of the time before, but since February of 2011 I took it to another level. Some people who know me have been supportive and many others haven’t. But being understood is not all that important when making changes in your life. It comes down to doing what you need to do to improve your life. There will always be critics. Don’t be your own worst critic.
Growth is painful. It’s painful because we stretch as a person. There are a lot of unknowns. Stepping into those unknowns is where we challenge and learn about ourselves. Are bodies and minds scream to go back to what we’re used to, even though we were miserable. What is it about going back to something even though we don’t like it? It’s because it’s familiar. Familiarity is part of the comfort zone and even though you may be miserable, you are familiar with the problems and so you remain.
Why would you want to grow even though it may be painful? Sometimes it’s out of a need, sometimes simply out of desire. Here’s something that you need to understand. If you’re not moving forward, you’re actually going backward. How can this be? It’s because there are only two ends of the spectrum. Opposites. Good vs evil. Left or right, top or bottom. Forward or backward. Though things seem to remain still there is a lot that is happening.
Growing Pains Versus Stagnation Pains
Many people are unhappy. They’re unhappy because they look around and there’s no sense of satisfaction, things seem gloomy, there’s no sense of hope. To remain in this state is extremely painful and if you do nothing about it, you will be in that state of pain for the rest of your life, complaining and being unhappy. It will be ongoing and you will continue to beat yourself up. You might start thinking you’re a loser, that you’re not capable of doing anything and mostly things that are negative. Many times people turn to something to dull out their pain which makes their situation even worse.
The pain you experience with growth on the other hand is wrapped with satisfaction, a sense of well being, accomplishment, confidence, esteem and a sense of joy. The pain occurs when you stretch into the unknown, but once you get passed that, you feel really, really feel good about what you’ve done. Compare that to the pain of remaining stagnate. There is no comparison. One destroys while the other builds.
Choose to Grow
As you can see, regardless of the choice you make, there will be pain attached to it. Pain is unavoidable, but suffering is a choice. Remain stagnate and you choose to suffer. The key word here is “choose”. It’s your choice.
You have one life to live. Live it! Don’t just exist. Make a difference in your life. Guess what? If you do that, you will affect people around you. Your children, family, friends workmates etc. Become the inspiration that people in this world so desperately need. Now, go get it! You deserve the best.
