Growth can be painful, but we must embrace it

Can it be better? This is a question we often ask ourselves but it is not the real question. The real question is, what are you going to do about it? And, to follow up, what effort are you willing to put in? After all, if you’re not willing to make it better, it’s probably going to stay the way it is.

Summer seems to finally be here, which is as good a time as any to say, “now I am going to make it better”. And the key word here isn’t “better”; it is “now” and “I”.

You have heard it a hundred times: if you’re not growing, you’re dying. But growth comes in many shapes and sizes. Growth is not always bigger and it is not always measured the way you think it should be.

A great way to determine whether you are experiencing growth is to ask yourself, “is my current situation and resulting behaviours adding value to my life and work, or to the life and work of others?”

In business and in personal life, it is important to remember you can have growth through pain. I can testify to this having spent the last year facing mental health challenges I have suppressed for a lifetime under the misguided notion that the show must go on. That certainly did not feel like progress a lot of the time.

Perhaps, from a long-term perspective, the adage is true: if you’re not growing, you are dying. Let’s face it – in a world of constant and rapid change, maintaining the status quo is quite simply passive regression.

But life is also about dormancy, setbacks and pain. It is about disease, loss and grief. It is about uncertainty and unknowns – challenging projects at work, strained relations at home, mounting bills.

We need to look at life’s uncomfortable moments as opportunities for explosive personal growth. Yes, life is full of difficult times but it is also filled with hope and vision, dreams and legacy.

If you are going to grow, it will have to be on purpose. So, whatever you are going through, deal with it intentionally. Process it. Get help. Do not prolong the challenge any more than is absolutely necessary.

Decide right now: what one step can you take today towards closing this difficult chapter in your life and opening a new one? Life is a series of new beginnings – and today is the beginning of the rest of your life. Make it a great one.