At the margins of growth–personal, emotional, vocational, spiritual, and otherwise–we feel discomfort. The natural feeling is to, in some way, feel threatened. Our stress increases. Our resistance lives at the edges of what we know. Pushing past the edges involves learning and experiencing-and too, conquering fear. It probably involves some sort of pain, process, or persistence.
Think of anything you ever became good at doing. It was threatening in the beginning, and after perseverance, it grew easier. Sports, music, or learning a language, it’s all the same.
Because most people shift to avoid pain/discomfort or associate it so quickly with negative aspects of human experience, we often fail to realize our opportunity for growth lies in the red flags that signal that we feel threatened. These feelings point to patches where we can learn something new about ourselves, our world, another person, a useful skill, or something else. This is how greater understanding comes about.
Like a root-bound potted plant, or a caged bird, we were meant emerge from our surroundings. We can use the native emotions (once seen as negative) that surface for our growth and benefit.
Share your stuff about feelings and growth….
And if you’ve ever used pain/discomfort to grow…feel free to share a blurb.