Growth Through Pain and Pleasure

Our natural instincts as people are to grow and mature. One way or the other, you’ll be challenged by life. It’s how we work through those challenges that defines how we evolve into better versions of ourselves. For example, it’s challenging enough to move from high school to college. Most students never acknowledge how challenging it truly is to say goodbye to those from your hometown and pack your bags for college. Yet this change is so big in the story of your life. From personal experience and witnessing my peers’ lives from the outside, I’ve seen how college can transition people into versions of themselves they’ve never seen. It’s all a part of growth.

Fixed Mindset vs. Growth Mindset

I’ve come across so many people in the past couple of years that have truly shocked me with their mindset. Some are challenging themselves in new ways every day, others are stuck in the same rabbit hole of bad habits. This is what’s called a ‘fixed or growth mindset.’ Fixed mindsets don’t take chances to evolve, they’d rather stick to the way they know how to do things. Examples of someone with a fixed mindset would be people who ignore feedback or avoid challenges.

Obviously, someone with a growth mindset takes a different approach to life and its challenges by welcoming them with open arms. They try new things, remind themselves that it’s okay to mess up and learn from their mistakes. Focusing on improvement is a key part of having a growth mindset and constantly editing different parts of your life as well. Editing your surroundings is like deleting distractions that don’t serve you anymore. These distractions can range from friends to material things such as your phone.

Comfortable in the uncomfortable

I’ve learned from my own life that there’s phases of uncomfortableness or “in-betweens.” If you’re caught in an in-between phase you’re most likely feeling out of place, catching yourself hyper-focused on your goals and maybe quite uncomfortable with your routine. Great news, it’s not a bad thing. Being in a growth period is painful until you acknowledge how far you’ve come, and it is so rewarding. Finding comfort in that uncomfortable phase is truly the key to acknowledging that you’re challenging yourself in new ways and for that you should be proud.

celebrate small victories

The most important part of growth, in my opinion, is acknowledging every single small victory you make. Even if it’s going to all your classes during the week, turning in that assignment on time or finishing a book you started a while back. Every small victory deserves acknowledgement because this is what drives us to make more improvements in our lives. If you got an A in that class you thought you’d never make it out of, then celebrate! Acknowledge all your failures, learn and reflect on them every once in a while, but do not dwell. It’s important that you take your time to enjoy these moments of reflection and celebration.

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• growth
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