Growth

Before you start getting into your worrywart mode, let me assure you that the title of this blog is not meant to be taken in the literal interpretation. There is no tumor growth and I am still chugging along as usual working to find balance in my daily life. There is, however, a deeper meaning to the title of this blog post. It is deeper meaning in the sense that we all must experience growth at some point in our lives or face the consequences of being left behind by those who continually challenge themselves to be successful and strive for greatness.

As I sit here thinking about how I want to put the words together, I find that it is not an easy thing to do. Some days, the words flow out of you like lava; other days the silence is deafening and the key strokes sparse.  I keep thinking that as a child of two parents with public relations backgrounds and journalism skills, my ability to write should flow naturally. Ha! I am probably on the opposite end of the spectrum from my parents on this subject. I always knew I wanted to be in the medical field and can remember that when most kids were discussing being firemen, and police officers and astronauts, I was aspiring to be a cardiovascular surgeon (clearly we know how that worked out). I'm not even sure where I learned about what a cardiovascular surgeon was, but I was absolutely certain I wanted to do that.

Ok, I digress; back to the point! This blog is about personal growth. I have been doing a lot of personal soul searching over the past year and a half and more recently I have also been doing a lot of work soul searching. I think the most eye opening realization I've had may be that my maturity level has significantly increased from when I was 25 years old to when I turned 30. So much so, that a friend and I were reflecting on the things we've had to change over the years and it was amazing to hear how much we have both grown in our own right. She has provided me so much insight on things that need to change from my end and I have been assisting her to the best of my ability as well. It is a mutually satisfactory relationship and one that I am most grateful to have.

The biggest thing is sometimes it takes the help and guidance of others to find the right path and it's so incredibly beneficial to have an outsiders perspective to help guide you through the muck. Tackling things on your own is tricky, especially if you are lacking some of the tools to do so successfully. Some people may be good at figuring things out on their own, but I know that I am not in every situation. I tend to feel it is appropriate to seek outside opinions because I know that I can be quick to respond with emotion and emotion can cloud judgement. If I can seek out a source or confide in someone I know that is prone to reason and not to knee jerk reactions, then I tend to get a more realistic perspective on what I need to work on.

The past months have shown me that just focusing on what I need to change doesn't help me grow as much as I would hope. Self reflection for me also involves taking into consideration the thought processes of others. That has been a task for me that has been incredibly challenging. I have also discovered that certain areas of growth come more easily for me than others. For instance, when it comes to work growth; with appropriate guidance I can adapt and change very quickly compared to some of the personal challenges I have been facing over the past months.

As part of my personal growth journey, I will be significantly diminishing my time spent on Facebook over the next few months. I plan to try to just avoid it all together, but we'll see :).

As it stands, this will be one of the last Facebook shares for my blog post for a while. I will continue to post to instagram and update my blog regularly, but I probably won't post it on Facebook.

I will leave you with this adorable picture of my niece Isabella "Bella" Davies