One of the Consequences of Growth

These words of John Maxwell seem so obvious, but in reality how many of us have gone through periods where we wanted to grow and change minus the uncomfortableness of moving out of our comfort zone. We like our comfort zone because, well, it is comforting. We may not be the happiest of campers in that zone, but we aren't in agony enough to really bust out.

Or, how about this craziness, we do the same thing over and over, hoping that the next time would produce different results or we keep hoping that the people we're involved with will somehow get on the bandwagon and change to what we need?

Past the expiration date but still in the fridge

How many relationships do we let go way past their expiration dates because we keep hoping that something or that someone will change? When in actuality, what we're really doing is holding onto the illusion of that person changing into something they are not for what we want instead of us having the courage to go out into the unknown and find what we really need. And, trust that the universe will take care of us in our venture into the unfamiliar. {raises hand}

The truth is a consequence of change and growth is pain and discomfort, plain and simple. Think about every single life thing you've been through where you stretched yourself, you learned gobs about yourself, and you became a better you. in every scenario, pain was involved in some shape or form and in various degrees. Typically, your biggest growth lessons involved the largest amounts of pain.

There is always a flip side

But really, if you think about it, the other side of the coin of pain is a positive gain for you. Yeah, it doesn't feel good at the time, but you are gaining something in the long run which is for your higher good.

I think sometimes part of our fear of growth is really projecting pain into the future when really we don't know if our worst fears would even come true. Things might just be better than we pictured or they might not be as painful as we thought. So really, our fear is of imagined fear.

I'm getting better at no longer doing that future fear projection because really all you get is worry and anxiety not to mention a life that is put on hold...by you. I don't want to look back on my life and think "what if" I had I just felt the fear and went for it anyway.

So, how about you? You feeling the fear and doing it anyway?