SELF-CARE IS A GROWTH MINDSET
What does growth mean to you?
I remember my years in the fashion industry when growth meant making more money. Opening more stores. Getting bigger. For me it also meant more money along with higher status and more responsibility. I sometimes wondered what happens to growth. Does one reach a limit, does it change, and since I was so young at the time I was wondering if this constant hustle for more was all there was to career and life. I had a conversation with my dad at some point about this and he said; I’m not trying to grow my business bigger, I’m working to continuously grow it better.
When I started coaching, this mindset became an apparent differentiator between more stress or more joy at work. The difference between the burden of worry of never being good enough, fast enough, and smart enough; never making enough money. And the mindset that’s asking “what do I need so that I can grow?”
GROWTH SPURTS
My growth used to come in spurts, and it was based on coping with a challenge, sometimes a trauma, and always a change that I didn’t expect, wasn’t ready for, and didn’t want. Change took a toll on me, and I had to figure out how to navigate. And with that I learned new tools and I grew.
Can we talk about how we continue to grow by being committed to ourselves? By being committed to our own learning, knowing ourselves more deeply, and developing skills to grow through uncertainty and harness change, instead of just surviving it?
GROWTH IS LIFE
If you look at nature, growth and change is at its essence. And we are part of nature. There are two ways to look at growth: the automatic adaptation to change and the intentional process of engaging in change.
When we are in fear, we resist change. That’s how I used to “meet change” it forced me to grow, and then I realized I could use challenges to grow. It’s the best insight I have ever had because it allowed me to reclaim agency and find empowerment, even in adversity. To meet the fear and shift our attention onto what we want and can do starts with pausing to access our curiosity.
It's essential for all of us—whether we’re in a creative/innovative field, production, customer service or sales, or whether we’re entrepreneurs or leaders—to learn how to harness change through curiosity so that we can figure out what we need to grow.
