Tip: Personal growth is wonderful…and can be confusing!

Tip of the Week
01/21/13

Tip: Personal growth is wonderful…and can be confusing!

Do you remember your first doll or your first toy car or some other object that meant a lot to you when you were a child?  When you first got it, it was wonderful and exciting.  But, as time passed, you lost interest or got something new and set it aside.  What meant so much to you at one time later meant nothing to you at all.  It is likely that you have had that experience many times in your life with other things as well.

It is also likely that you have outgrown some of the perspectives you had when you were younger.

When I was a child, there was a tree next door that was split at the base which grew into two large trees; one out of each side of that split.  I put a giant rock right into the split of that tree so that I could climb up whichever side I desired.  That tree seemed so huge to me then and I spent many wonderful hours climbing it as a young boy.  However, a few years ago I went back to that house where I grew up and walked next door to see that tree.  I was so surprised!  The tree that seemed so big to me as a child was in reality, relatively small.  And that “giant” rock I had placed at the base of the tree wasn’t as large as I remembered either.  It was still there, but the tree had grown up so much around it that I could barely see it.  Things were not as they had seemed when I was younger.  Just like that tree had grown, so had I and that caused my perspective to change.

As children we outgrow things:  our toys, our clothes, certain games we played.  And, as adults we sometimes outgrow things, too, like a job, certain relationships, places and some perspectives.  Some behaviors that worked for us at one point in our life, we now recognize are simply childish so we have set them aside for the sake of maturity.

Outgrowing things as children seems normal, but outgrowing things as adults can be confusing.  We may stop and wonder why something that was so special to us at one time in our life doesn’t seem to fit us any more in the same way that it once did.  Perhaps our feelings have changed about something that once meant a lot to us.  We may go through a time of trying to “force” ourselves to continue to do something that is familiar to us.  However, we may soon find that it doesn’t mean to us what it once did.  The reason that all of this is occurring is because we are growing.

All of this is a very important and valid part of life.  We can learn to let ourselves go through these experiments in order that we can find the things in life that fit us best at this particular time in our life.  Sometimes we have to figure out what no longer fits in order to find something new that does fit.

Now, I am not advocating a “trial and error” type of living, trying to see what does and doesn’t work.  I do not have to touch a hot stove to know that is a bad idea.  What I am advocating in this Tip is realizing that it is okay to let go of some things that you have had in your life for a long, long time in order to make room for brand new things.

In fact, I am heeding my own advice.  I have started cleaning up, throwing out, down-sizing, and eliminating “junk” from my life that I have carried around for years.  I hate to admit it, but I am a pack-rat.  And, it is not so much because I have a “scarcity” mentality; I just have accumulated so many really great things over the years that I don’t want to let go of any of them.  But, that is childish thinking.  It is time to grow and the only way I can do that so that I have room for new things is to eliminate old things that only hold sentimental value for me.

I hope that you will take a few minutes to think through this concept.  Look into your life and see what you could possibly let go of in order to make room for new things.  I am convinced that life is not about the good versus the bad as much as it is about the good versus the better.  I want the better things to come into my life and that won’t happen if I remain stuck and am not willing to grow.  Ponder these thoughts and ask yourself what new and better things you want in your life.  Maybe it’s a relationship.  Maybe it is a new opportunity.  Maybe it is a dream that you have had for many years to start your own business.  Whatever it is, I want to encourage you to remember that personal growth is the key to success.  You cannot grow if you hold onto everything and have no additional room for new growth! Even snakes shed old skin to make room for new growth!

Someone once said that if you are not growing, you are dying.  And, I hope this coming year will be the best year of growth that you have ever experienced!

Tip: Personal growth is wonderful…and can be confusing!
Have a great week!  God bless you!
Dr. Robert A. Rohm