Monday Mindset
Grow As You Go
Hello, friend!
It’s a holiday Monday here in the US, and that means it does not feel at all like a normal Monday. I hope wherever this finds you that you’ve had a restful weekend, time spent with those you love, and/or doing things you love.
This month, we’ve been digging (ha!) into the theme of Growth.
Settle in for a few minutes with me as we consider what it means to:
Grow as you Go
You don’t have to figure it all out at once…you are allowed to learn and grow as you go.
—Morgan Harper Nichols
We already know that growth is a process, and we can’t control how long it takes or what that growth will look like. We can make our best guesses, and we can certainly set ourselves up with wisdom, practical supports, and a positive mindset.
Still, nothing ever turns out exactly as expected. There are variables we can’t account for. The plain truth is that we can’t see the future in all its details, and we certainly can’t control it.
Why not, then, take the pressure off our pursuits (jobs, relationships, hobbies) looking a particular way and instead embrace a more flexible (read: gentle, gracious, realistic) approach? Perhaps then we could actually grow as we go.
As a writer, you don’t see most of what I’m working on or putting out (project work, baby!). But behind the scenes, I’m not only writing to get paid. I’m also writing to discover what’s within me. I’m writing to work through what my brain and heart want to say. I’m writing to get to what’s true. But I’m also writing for play, for the creative act, for discovering what is possible. I do this on a regular basis through writing practice.
Natalie Goldberg, in describing the big picture of writing practice, wrote,
“You begin with an idea of where you are going and once you begin it turns out all different.”
The Secret of Writing
This isn’t just a lesson about following the trails that open up in writing. This is a reflection of what the journey of life is like!
We all begin with an idea of where we’re going, but once we start moving in that direction, things change. Opportunities we couldn’t have foreseen pop up. Challenges, too. We can’t pass/skip/go out of these things in real life (name that reference!).
“You go to do one thing and another comes up.” (Thanks, Natalie). Life is a series of responses to what arises in life. We don’t stop growing just because our circumstances change. We don’t stop living even when our dreams take a backseat to urgent needs.
As we soften our rigid expectations, we can bend instead of break. Our growth takes circuitous routes sometimes, but that doesn’t mean it’s subpar. We are each on a unique journey, and that includes the journey of self-connection.
Instead of getting overloaded by what your growth has to look like (a well-known cousin to what you’d like it to look like), what if you focused more on what it means to grow through whatever you go through this week? Simply put, how can you continue to use that growth mindset, acknowledging the challenges and the supports available, and let your steps be small? That “good enough” growth, rather than the choice between perfect or nothing?
Today is the place to start — to sink into the moment and embrace what is available. To sidestep the stuck mentality and instead take little steps that will bring you to a new place of strength. Your trajectory might change in life (many times!), but the important things remain steady. You have the tools you need to get through this day. You have what you need to do the next right thing. You have people to connect with when you need an outside perspective. And if you don’t feel as if you have these things available, you have this moment to connect to what it is you need most. From that inner connection, you can find paths to connect to others. Even as you do, you grow as you go.
How do you handle unexpected twists in day-to-day life?
Consider a time when you were first starting out with something. What did you expect that journey to look like? How different was the reality of it?
Write down three unexpected gifts you never could have planned for but wouldn’t trade.
As you move through the present, remember: you might not know where you’ll end up or how the journey will unfold, but you can trust that there will be gifts you couldn’t have imagined along the path.
I’d love, love, love to hear what comes up for you as you do this. Drop a comment, reply, or DM me!
Sending so much love from my little corner of the world to yours.
~Sara
Now that I'm approaching the age of 80 years, I can say a hearty amen! to what you have written here, Sara! Thank you for this...