Growth: More Of Everything

Introduction:

Welcome my friend,

How are you?

Every Friday offers us this opportunity to be here, and doing so again today points us to the awesome blessing of being alive.

Indeed, the gift of another day comes with it the hope and optimism that our journey can yet get better, as we go on to live out old dreams and conceive new ones.

Yet, each new day also means that we're getting older, which makes some of us really uncomfortable, as we face the reality that we've already experienced most of our best days.

Which then, is our reminder to intentionally try to live each day to the fullest, seizing every opportunity that comes our way; now we still have the time to do so.

So that in the end, when all is done, we can have the satisfaction that we lived fulfilled; with none of those “what if” regrets that come from the hesitance to dare.

Discussion:

The word ‘growth’ is associated with increase and enhancement which means that to grow is to get bigger in size, quantity or quality overtime.

For us individuals, we grow in accordance with the different aspects of our lives and once we're born, we're immediately confronted with this task.

To grow from a child into an adult is advancing in age, experience, career, relationships and so on; which makes growth an exciting prospect for us all.

However, while these are all things to look forward to, our conversation today will be mostly centered around the other impacts of our growth that we may find a bit overwhelming.

■ The Desire To Grow

To grow is a good thing, after all, that's self development in practice.

Everyone wants to grow in one thing or the other, one way or another which means that we're all motivated by different intentions whether genuine or not.

For instance, teenagers want to move out of their parents' home because it gives them the freedom of late nights and certain lifestyles.

The bad rep wants to become the manager because he thinks that would mean having no one tracking his excesses.

The politician who wants to “serve” but is only getting ready to make policies that benefit a few to the detriment of the rest.

Truth is, we can go on to mention many more real life examples of where the drive to succeed is flawed and deeply rooted in one or more of the desires to: prove a point, revenge or live recklessly and selfishly.

Yet each time this has proven to be wrong because it always never ends well.

■ The Big Picture Perspective To Growth

Everyone that wants to grow should bear in mind that growth comes with more responsibilities, more expectations and more adversaries.

This is the big picture perspective to growth.

To think that our growth will come with more personality, wisdom, money, power, influence, fame and so on without us giving up certain aspects of ourselves for it, is wishful thinking.

We must prepare our minds to do the work that our growth involves or has opened us up to, and not merely seek to enjoy its benefits.

When we desire more, we have to know that the responsibility of having more means that we'd have to use it to be of service to the world around us and beyond; and not just to feel superior.

While some people live by handouts, taking from the rest, the responsibility of growth is selflessly taking care of others.

Truth is, more often, the reward for our growth will be to dig deep or drown having now been exposed to bigger challenges than before yet nothing builds our character better than being forced to level up.

Other times, our growth also means that there'll now be expectations of us to live according to the set standards of our new space and its behavior and codes of conduct.

This is something we have to get used to.

The responsibility of being good role models and living by example, is a normal expectation others have of those whose achievements have inspired admiration - and if we desire to be such a person, it shouldn't just be because it feels good.

To be a person of influence also places on us the responsibility to live modestly, showing restraint in our behavior for the sake of those looking up to us.

Yet, this doesn't mean we have to lose ourselves striving for perfection because no one is; all we have to do is just try to excellently be our best and hope that it's enough.

Which then leads us to last one which is that growth comes with more adversaries.

Realistically, as we make advancements, others may begin to see us as threats to their position; immediately seeking out ways to detract us.

This then requires us to be sensitive, wise and discerning, paying close attention to the ways folks let out their true intentions in their interactions with us even if their words say otherwise.

■ Handling The Responsibilities Of Our Growth

Sometimes the challenges of getting ahead can be so much that we want to shrink back to where we're coming from but this isn't the best way to go.

If we do, we miss out on all the good things ahead.

We must remind ourselves that we didn't get to this far by chance but have in fact earned our challenges as we recount everything we've already overcome on our way.

This gives us the courage and encouragement to push ourselves to new limits as we've had to do many times before.

Also, as we grow, we need to give ourselves the grace to make mistakes or struggle a bit.

After all, none of us has ever lived and we're all just learning on this job called life one day at a time.

Lastly, the responsibilities of our growth provide us with the opportunities to show ourselves capable of even more, having gracefully handled what's in front of us.

Summary:

Life doesn't get easier, we're the ones that get better in order to withstand whatever it throws at us.

To think that life will go ‘easy mode’ at some point when we've done this and that is ignoring the other challenges that will come from unlocking that new level.

This is the reality of life.

However, this happens for good reason, which is to keep us uncomfortable and grounded; so that we don't unintentionally slip into mediocrity.

To be honest, it's a good thing to constantly grow into positions that demand us to ask more of ourselves, pushing ourselves to the limit.

This is how we reach our full potentials.

Master Apprentice.

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