Memes by Themes #23: Growth
This is the time of year when many people take a moment to reflect on their lives; consider ways to improve themselves and their circumstances; and outline steps they can take to achieve their goals in the coming year.
It’s an admirable exercise, but you don’t have to wait for New Year’s Day to practice it. Growth can happen at any moment of any day—as long as you remain self-aware; attentive to opportunities to learn; and committed to living a life of integrity, purpose, and love.
Perhaps the most essential ingredient for growth is intellectual humility, which is why I made practicing it the first step in my 12-step recovery program for menticide.
You may find that when you work on self-improvement, those who prefer lazy stagnation may mock, criticize, or resent you.
That’s okay. They’re not yet ready to grow, but don’t let them stop you from finding your cheng and becoming whole as my brilliant soul-sister and wingwoman Meredith Miller shares in her new book.
You cut the ropes tethering your hot-air balloon to the earth when you stop fretting over what people think of you and begin pursuing your ikigai. Then you can start soaring.
Growth involves replacing fear with courage, bitterness with gratitude, envy with aspiration, and self-deception with honesty.
Consider the dandelion. Some view it as a weed; others a beautiful flower; and still others medicine. The dandelion could restrict itself to the perceptions of others, or it could shed those self-limiting labels and grow into the wish-maker it was born to be.
If you knew you were going to die in a year, what would you most want to do, be, and become in 2026?
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