A long time ago Tony Robbins told me in a book he had wrote, “if you aren’t growing, you’re dying”.
This sounded like a universal truth to me and when I think of his words, I see a plant.
A plant that is being fed and watered keeps growing bigger and stronger, until it outgrows its environment and needs to be moved… once it’s in a new environment, it grows even bigger and stronger again.
If the plant isn’t growing, it’s starts wilting.
This image has stuck with me.
As people we don’t only grow physically like the plant…we can also grow emotionally, spiritually, or intellectually and constantly pursuing growth keeps you feeling alive.
There is no area you can’t grow stronger, as a matter of fact the weaker you are in one area the more opportunity for growth.
This has been my year to be brave.
To explore the areas I was weak and to learn about them and expose them to myself and to others.
I am speaking up, and saying the wrong thing.
I am showing up even if I feel dumb.
I am talking about what I think, even if it turns out it might be wrong…
I am sharing how I feel, and how something makes me feel, and asking for help when I don’t understand.
I’ve had a million “being brave” hangovers.
I have swam in pools of self doubt, fear, and embarrassment over things I’ve said wrong, or for sharing my thoughts in the wrong way.
But I won’t let myself regret what I’ve said or done anymore.
Regret has always shut me down in the past and kept me small.
I’m determined to grow and to learn and to become a better person by being brave and I have had “being brave” success.
I’ve learned that being humble is a good thing.
Speaking up had humbled me. It has taught me that all of things I thought I knew in my head, weren’t quite right.
Showing up has taught me that all of the insecurities I had about the unkind opinions I assumed people held were mostly untrue.
By engaging in the groups I’m in I have found people who are generous, receptive and kind to me as they allow me the space to interact with them.
None of this happened when I was sitting at home trying to be politically correct and not step on any toes.
Most of this has happened because my knees were weak and my stomach was flip flopping and I did it anyway.
I’m learning to walk towards what scares me because that’s where we need to grow and we feel the most alive.