Is Personal Growth Overrated?
Myths Vs Truth
In the past year personal development and growth have become hot topics. Instagram is filled with thousands of positive quotes, affirmations & motivational Mondays. But honestly, personal growth is way more than agreeing with a bunch of IG quotes. In my early 20’s I never really understood the concept of personal growth. I just figured I was doing ok. I knew I had things I wanted to work on, but who doesn’t. I thought personal growth was reading self-help books and then just “trying to be a good person”. Honestly, I thought the big trend was so overrated.
However, I came to a point in my life where I felt that I was just living in a cycle. I kept making the same mistakes and engaging in the same wrong behaviors. My relationships seemed to repeat themselves, and I noticed I was dating the same person just in a different body. I wanted my life to change, and I wanted to leave those destructive behaviors behind. I wanted to understand why I made certain decisions, why certain things upset me and why I react and respond the way I do. I really didn’t know where to start or who to even reach out to. I know a lot of people feel the same way. Let me tell you more about personal growth and some truths that I have learned along the way.
Personal growth is an ongoing process of becoming aware and understanding oneself in order to improve behaviors, habits, actions, and reactions. Successful personal growth requires the motivation to improve and make changes while loving yourself in the process. This brings me to the first truth that I have learned PERSONAL GROWTH IS NOT ALWAYS EASY AND CAN BE CHALLENGING. There is a huge myth that personal growth is just being aware of your behaviors, habits, and actions. This is not true! Personal growth requires you to be aware but to also develop techniques to change learned behaviors. It requires you to step out of your comfort zone and make conscious decisions to grow and improve yourself. It can help you become aware of negative habits and destructive patterns and lead you to correct and changing them.
So, you decided that you are ready for personal growth. You have committed to improving yourself and understand that is may be challenging but are ready for the ride. Now what? It is time to establish accountability and a support system. The second truth I learned is PERSONAL GROWTH REQUIRES ACCOUNTABILITY. There is a myth that you can go through your personal growth journey alone. Whether you find a life coach, therapist, friend, or family member, someone must keep you accountable. It’s important to share your goals with someone else who you trust and know will help you stay focused. For me, a life coach was a great asset because they are skilled at helping you figure out behaviors and habits, and negative patterns that you may not even be aware of. I did several assessments with my life coach to be able to identify my weaknesses. I learned strategies to increase my self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. I reached out to close friends and my parents to keep me accountable.
After being committed to personal growth, establishing goals, and finding your support system you are on your way to successfully living out your full potential. You have been doing great! You are setting boundaries, being aware and changing behaviors, and removing toxic individuals from your space. Then one day you find yourself going back to old behavior, or negative thoughts start coming back in your head. The third truth that I have learned is PERSONAL GROWTH IS A MARATHON AND NOT A SPRINT. There is a myth that once you begin your personal growth journey that you will change quickly, and things will be perfect. I am here to tell you that is a complete lie. While you are growing and improving, there will still be days you make mistakes, are triggered by certain situations, or even go completely against the right decision. That is OK! Just realize and be aware of what is happening and decide to not stay there. An important part of Personal Growth Is accepting and loving yourself. Many people believe they love themselves but really do not. Loving yourself means to remove negative thoughts about who you are. Loving yourself means forgiving your past mistakes and decisions. Loving yourself requires you to not let people treat you any kind of way. Most importantly loving yourself means making you a PRIORITY!
Personal Growth is not overrated, it is an essential part of life. Remember that personal growth is challenging, requires accountability and is a marathon and not a sprint. For those just starting your personal growth journey, I applaud you for being committed to change. For those of you who are continuing on your personal growth journey, I want to encourage you to keep moving forward and to stay focused. Change leads to better outcomes. If you want something you never had, you must be willing to do something you have never done.