Have you ever thought what would have happened If the world still gets stuck at hunters and gathers? If that was to happen then every dawn we would rise up with the first sunlight, gear ourselves for hunting a dangerous animal who we might have to eat unseasoned or maybe in some circumstances uncooked with our teeth not brushed and big leaves covering your private parts…. Quite overwhelming, isn’t it?
Now take it in your own personal context.
Does it ever happen that you meet your old high school friend who remembers you as the person who used to wear baggy pants with greasy middle-parted hair and addicted to comic books and sugary soda? At such times every part of our brain cells works on is putting up words and intellect in the right picture to make her realise how you’re not the same person anymore. How you’ve changed and grown into an adult.
The sole reason why it petrifies us is to be our older selves is because we now realise that we know better in life. We have grown as individuals, and are now far away from what we were at that time. Our ideologies have changed, our customs have evolved, our personality has changed, we have learnt and let go of so many things and overall we are a new version of yourself.
We have more skills, wisdom and comfort in life now, which we would have missed out on if we did not take the very first step towards growing. All of these things make us realise that personal growth and change are the only constants in life. The process of overcoming our old behaviours and actions and developing new and better ones is called Personal Growth. We grow with every step that we take, and we realise the importance of growing with a glimpse of self-reflection. Even in nature, there are metaphorical examples of growth like the way snake leaves behind its own skin and celebrates the new one, and if it fails to do so then the accumulation of old skin makes him blind. That is what ignorance of self-worth does to us, makes us blind to the new opportunities in life.
We realise that every step be it a small one contributes to a bigger goal, to a bigger difference in our life. Every goal should be cut into bite-size pieces to reach it efficiently, for example, learning a new skill can be a small step towards bigger self-growth. The transition from a hunter to a career-oriented person, or from a high school immature fellow to a grown mature man, came from one single first step: A thought, a thought of evolving and adapting into a better, more knowledgeable, well-put-together self.
The steps towards personal growth are thoughts setting up goals, unlearning old ways and adapting to newer habits, and the key to all these steps is time management.
Michael Altshuler, A billionaire at the young age of twenty-two once said, ” The bad news is time flies and you should know that you are a pilot of your own life“.
This quote in itself has a very profound meaning to it. Time is a metal on everybody’s ring finger, but what makes it a diamond for some people is the way a person makes productivity out of it and the finest manner to test your productivity is self-reflection.
If you ever find yourself stuck in the loom of stagnation, always wait and ask yourself ” Tick tock, Tik Tok, the clock runs, but do I? “
A person can never fail to grow if they manage their time wisely and to do that it’s always suggested to wake up early. Now coming back to the high school example, when you meet that person you realise how she has not changed much, she still possesses her old habits from school, but to her, she has attained her goal of a personalised self as of the age and is content with her growth.
But to you, she’s still the same, You see no difference in her. You know what that makes us realise, that personal growth is subjective to one another, what might be growth for you, might not even be one single step to somebody and vice versa, but this does not mean that you or they have not grown and evolved, because everybody has different struggles in life and different challenges to overcome and different goals to reach. Stop comparing yourself with others who are doing much better than you, you’ll also reach there one way or another.
Another thing it makes us realise is that you can’t take everybody on the journey of growth with you, some people might be stuck in the pothole of their struggles so let them be there if you can’t help them, and focus on your own journey. You will find thousands of people on your own level of growth with every new step and surpass them sometimes with your scale growth. Every new person you meet and every new challenge you face, adds up to your own self-improvement, and it’s a lifelong process.
You’re never your best self, and you always have a little scope of improvement so hustle hard with every new milestone you hit, to hit another sooner and always remember you’re doing your best job so stay motivated and tackle one day at a time