Growing up isn’t just for children. Do you remember how as a child, everything was geared to helping you grow up and become a mature adult? Do you remember being asked repeatedly, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” by relatives and neighbors alike? That interest seemed to dry up the closer you came to being grown up. Now that you’re an adult, no one asks you that anymore. Why is that? Is growing up simply a matter of reaching some chronological point? Are you “done” at that point? Well, I hope not!
Actually, we are constantly growing up. Life is a series of phases that present us, as we go through them, with new opportunities to grow and expand our experiences. When you begin to see life in that fashion, you’re poised to make new and meaningful discoveries. By refusing to accept the concept of arrival and in turn, embracing the concept of journey, you open yourself to real development. Being a grown up is not as important as growing up!
To switch paradigms you must move outside the boundaries of your opinions and comfort zones. Our opinions are formed as a result of the associations we make as children. Our comfort zones become set when our circumstances mesh with our opinions. These factors often limit our progression. Many just seem to stop. As children, they were growing in leaps and bounds. As adults, the brakes have been applied and maintaining the status quo becomes the goal. In fact, as we grow older we tend to look backward more often than forward. Some in the field of Psychology say that as we get older we become nostalgic as preparation for our deaths!
Allow me to share several thoughts to help you get back on track and resume growing up, making real progress through the phases of life.
Don’t allow yourself the luxury of being a backward thinker. The best of your life can be in the rest of your life. You can make your future rich with new experiences that become contributors to your continued growth. Why settle for stopping? Refuse to focus upon the losses of the past. Instead, contemplate the gains awaiting you in the days ahead.
Get up and get going in order to start growing. As a small child you were in to everything. You had a vivid imagination and an innate curiosity about life. Reclaim that growth propelling approach and check things out in the world around you. Too many folk are content to worry. Instead of stewing over things, start doing things.
Too many die before they’re dead! If you aren’t growing you’re slowing and that’ll lead you to a quick stop. Wake up your desire to experience the joy of the journey and get past any illusion of having arrived. You’ve got more to go. It ain’t over ‘til it’s over!
No matter what phase of life you’re in, there’s something more to learn, something new to do. Don’t miss out on the wonderful gift of life by allowing yourself to stop. The light is green and you can grow!