What’s up! We appreciate you for checking in on us. We hope your school year is off to a great start. New beginnings are always an opportunity to recreate yourself, develop and grow! Let’s keep it REAL, we all want to grow in some way, shape or form. No, we are not necessarily talking about height, but let’s use a growth spurt as an example. Typically, when a kid is going through a growth spurt, they are getting taller, but what happens as they get taller? Their knees start to hurt! Plenty of basketball players know exactly what we’re talking about. Let’s keep it REAL, most of us wouldn’t mind an extra inch or two, especially if you’re a basketball player!
We consider growth a necessary part of development. This is not always physical growth, but mental, emotional and spiritual growth as well. As we grow, we literally become a different person. We develop into what we ultimately wanted to become in the first place. But again, what happens when we grow? Yes, we go through pain and discomfort, just like those basketball players’ knees. If we want to grow, we must understand that we will have to be uncomfortable in some capacity first. Let’s keep it REAL, this is what holds some of us back. We don’t want to be uncomfortable; trust us, we get it. It’s painful, it’s hard, but at the end of the day, it’s necessary.
We’ve already discussed physical growth, but consider working out. If we want to get stronger, we have to push our muscles to the point of discomfort. If we want to get in shape and/or run faster, we have to get out of our comfort zone and on the track… toward growth. We have to accept the fact that this is the only way we will grow. There is no other way to do it. True growth happens when we are at the point of exhaustion, and do one more rep, or one more sprint. That’s when we grow. How do you know you’ve grown? When you step into the gym or on the track next time and watch yourself go a little bit further. Let’s keep it REAL, as much as some of us might want to, we can’t shortcut growth. However, the beauty about that is you’ll thank yourself later for all the hard work you decided to put in to help yourself grow into a different, more developed individual. You’ll feel the gratification of your former self for going through what you had to go through to get to the other side.
Now, let’s consider mental growth. This applies to the students, who must learn something new every day. Yes, learning is a form of growth. When you learn, the same rules apply. You have to push yourself past a certain point, to get to the other side of knowledge. That’s what a test is for. That’s the whole purpose of education. It is meant to push you to develop mentally, so that you can grow. That’s why we have different grades; to prove to the world that you are ready for the next step. You can’t get to the next step if you haven’t grown; and how do you grow? By proving yourself on homework assignments and tests. Let’s keep it REAL, this is a challenge that many of us just don’t want to face. We get it, school is tough; but think about how you will feel once you’re done. Let’s keep it REAL, you might not apply most of the things you learned in the books, but you’ll definitely apply the habits that you gained from the process.
We also grow emotionally by going through hard things. We all have emotions, some of us show them more than others; but we can all agree that we can get emotional at some point in our lives. Emotions are inevitable and sometimes even out of our control, but we grow by understanding how to control our emotions. Joyce Meyer’s book, Living Beyond Your Feelings: Controlling Your Emotions So They Don’t Control You, gives amazing advice on just how to do it! There is so much value in being in control of your emotions. The key is that when you control your emotions, you control your actions, which can have a major impact on your overall quality of life.
Finally, there’s spiritual growth. Let’s keep it REAL, we will not discuss the specifics of religion, as we value many different perspectives that many different religions have to offer. We will, however, discuss the overall value of the idea of religion. This, to us, simply means to practice a set of values that are developed from the basis of morals. When we grow spiritually, we understand the importance of appreciating consistent practices that are based on positive morals. But again, spiritual growth also produces discomfort. Think about trust. When you are spiritual, you trust in a Higher Power. You put your faith into something that you can’t see or hear. That can be tough sometimes, but something that we’ve found value in is the Law of Attraction. Check out our blog on the Law of Attraction, which comes from a cultural perspective for more detail, but simply stated, when you fully trust in positive outcomes and play your part in making those outcomes REAL, you’ll begin to understand the power of belief. Yes, belief can be hard, especially when you’re going through difficult times, but trust us when we say that you will see the benefits of it when you stay the course. The other side of faith and belief is spiritual growth!
Lastly, we want to pull from Tony Robbins’s book, Money Master the Game: 7 Simple Steps to Financial Freedom, where Tony discusses two great concepts of growth. First, we grow just like a plant does, meaning we need to nurture ourselves every single day consistently. As plants need sunlight and water, we need consistency and dedication toward each of the growth experiences we described here. Second, Tony explains how true growth occurs when we have fruit to give to others. Just like an apple tree produces apples that fall to the ground for us to eat (after we’ve washed them!), our life’s purpose is to share our experiences with others so that they may use them to nurture themselves. That is how we make a lasting impact while we are here! Thank you, as always, for taking the time out of your day to check-in. We hope this was valuable to you as you go through your journey of growth. Let us know how you’ve grown throughout your life. We would love to hear about positive testimonials that could inspire our next generation of future leaders!
Keep it REAL.
Recognize Education And Learning 