Growth Feels Good

I have two daughters, born two years apart. The day that each of them became taller than their mother was a happy day for them. Each of them felt like it was an accomplishment. Now the girls are in a friendly contest to see who will end up the tallest. Each girl glories in the victory when she pulls ahead of her sister. Even my son, who is much younger, loves to see how tall he is compared to his mom and his sisters. He glories in the seemingly inevitable fact that eventually he will be taller than all three of them. As parents, my wife and I love to see them take joy in these small things.

Gardeners love to plant new life and watch it grow, knowing that their nurture will result in a stronger, more vibrant garden that will yield the best fruit, vegetables, or flowers possible. A young woman glories in her ability to train and exercise and as she sees her times diminish and her race results improve as she trains to be an Olympic swimmer. An addict experiences untold joy when he finally kicks a habit that has plagued him for years or decades.

A worker glories in his promotion. A mom relishes her son’s graduation from college. A dad cheers his daughter’s first steps, or cries just a little when he walks her down the aisle toward the new life she is starting with the man she loves.

Growth feels good.

It requires pain, effort, determination, patience, and many other qualities and actions from us, but when the growth comes, it feels so very good.

But more than anything else, growth requires change. The right kind of change, true, but it requires change. Stagnation is the enemy of growth.

If your marketing campaign, your job performance, or your life is stagnant, look around, find the right change and make it. Even if you’re not sure what the exact right change to make is, just make the best change you can. Without this, there can be no joy.

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