fbpx

Growth Is Pleasant and Painful


by Ryan Biddulph

All products and services featured on this site are independently selected by our authors and editors. If you buy something through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Growing is fun, freeing and fulfilling most of the time.

I enjoy growing because growing liberates me from fear, pain and suffering while improving the overall quality of my life. But growing also forces me to face, feel and release my fears. Walking this road feels highly uncomfortable sometimes because no one deeply enjoys feeling fear.

Most people have a tough time growing because the moment fear rears its ugly head, the masses turn around to sprint in the other direction. The public generally believes growth is only sunshine and roses. Feeling bad must not mean growth. Feeling bad must mean failure, regression and pretty much walking backwards through life.

But if you avoid feelings related to growth – good and bad – you simply do not grow. I love writing for Don's blog but today I feel a little off as far as tension traveling through my body. Every few months I feel a similar experience. My body becomes incredibly tense and tight as energy seems stuck in a few areas.

I rest, do yoga and simply face, embrace and release the deep tension as I continue to write this post and posts for my other blogging buddies. I have enough experience to know growing feels messy, painful and flat out unpleasant sometimes because breaking free means breaking various aspects of your life.

Breaking Free to Grow

Humans break free prior states of being to grow into different people, from an energetic perspective. You always appear to be the same – in most cases – but the emotions coursing through your being change based on your levels of awareness and non-resistance to what is.

Years ago, I would have panicked, flipped out and worried obsessively in bed if my current feelings coursed through my being. But I broke free of my old terrors, breaking free of the scared person I was to grow into the more calm, serene, poised observer I am today.

All of those growth years felt fun and freeing for much of the time but some moments felt frightening, painful, overwhelming and stressful. Hey; that's growth. Sometimes, growth feels terrible. Most times, growth feels good. Do not be so quick to turn around the split second bad feelings arise in your being because great growth meets you in your most uncomfortable moments.

Everything depends on your willingness to be with the fears waiting for you in growth zones. Everything changes as your relationship with fear – aka bad feelings – changes significantly. Once you become comfortable with being uncomfortable you will grow really fast. But developing this skill takes time, energy and a full on commitment to wading through unpleasant emotions instead of avoiding these energies.

Consider engaging in awareness-expanding practices like meditating and doing yoga. Expanding your awareness unearths fear to face, embrace, feel and release these energies versus being aversive or resistant to fear.

This is the starting point of genuine growth.

About the Author 

Ryan Biddulph

Ryan Biddulph helps you learn how to blog at Blogging From Paradise.

{"email":"Email address invalid","url":"Website address invalid","required":"Required field missing"}

Procrastination is the act or habit of delaying or postponing tasks, especially something that requires immediate action. In other words, it is

Read More
How to Stop Procrastination From Stalling Your Career

I walked for 90 minutes in 23 degree weather today. Wind chill factors reached 5 degrees. I found myself walking solo beside

Read More
Grow Your Mental Muscle Slow and Steady

I watched my four-year-old niece for the past two days. We had a blast as we always do. She made friends with

Read More
What Unresolved Fears Do You Need to Face?

Some believe my life is a movie. I have lived in Fiji, New Zealand, Bali and Costa Rica for months at a

Read More
What 1 Skill Allows You to Live Your Dreams?

The years between childhood and maturity can be difficult for many of us. In some ways, the various struggles that we face

Read More
Why It’s Never Too Early to Teach Kids About Personal Development

I recently saw a post asking, “How can I find a millionaire to be my mentor?” Every business or leadership book on the

Read More
How to Find a Mentor: Two Methods

I read how Jeff Bezos’ net worth reached $200 billion recently. He seemed to be admired by many and equally loathed by

Read More
Look in the Mirror Before Criticizing a Titan

Imagine if you absolutely love smoking, eating red meat frequently and skipping exercise. Perhaps you've observed people who follow similar habits. Most

Read More
Sacrifice Is Forward Gaining Not Backwards Losing

You have probably heard the saying, “you can't have your cake and eat it too.” What it means is that you can't

Read More
Why the idea “you can’t have your cake and eat it too” is a poor way to live life

Every few months, I delete a huge chunk of our email subscribers. I don't import lists; these are all people who asked

Read More
Saying Goodbye: Why I Delete People From Our Email List

What do you consider to be a failure? And do you know how to deal with failures? For me, failure is directly

Read More
How to Deal with Failures in Your life?

A wise man once professed how he rarely thinks about the past because he has no use for it. Think that one

Read More
Do You Marry Yourself to the Past?

SUBSCRIBE

Get new articles and course discounts from leading providers every Friday in your inbox with your free subscription!

>