Personal growth is painful, discomforting, challenging, difficult, and slow. It’s a lifelong process that will require constant effort because nothing improves by setting it aside and ignoring issues presented. Personal growth can address mental, social, spiritual, emotional, or physical growth. There are a few keystones of personal growth that are required for progress to be made:

  1. Personal growth requires intimate knowledge of yourself, who you want to be and really digging deep to answer this simple question :  “What do you really want?”. Technology and social media constantly put pressure on us to conform to what is expected of us based on what everyone else is doing. This could be as simple as Apple ads pushing you to get the newest phone, Instagram filters encouraging you to dye your hair the same way Billie Eilish did, YouTube videos explaining why your quirkiness is undesirable, or your friends pushing you to tamper down a quality because it’s ‘weird’. The world tells us not to be ourselves or appreciate certain traits that oftentimes make us unique and fun. Decide who you want to be and strive to be that person, even if others discourage your progress. 
  2. Get used to being outside your comfort zone. Challenge yourself to make that zone bigger – tiny steps at a time.  Personal growth requires admittance of our shortcomings, an acknowledgement that can often be difficult to face. There cannot be personal growth without figuring out which qualities need to be improved or which sector is lacking. This acknowledgment often leads to the motivation and conviction that is required for any progress to be made in terms of personal growth.
  3. Decide to do what is best for you. You can’t please everyone. You can’t even please half of the people you know because when you change for the better, there will always be people who want to hold you back. You can’t listen to everyone’s comments, you can’t follow their conflicting advice. No one will advocate for you if you can’t advocate for yourself, so take steps to become your own biggest supporter. Sometimes, the best thing you can do is (for lack of better way to put it) shut out the haters and just do you. 

Use these three pillars of personal growth to help you adopt good habits and accomplish your goals. The decision to change isn’t an easy one but will result in a better and more confident version of yourself. Make the decision to improve today, get started tonight, and kick off your personal growth journey as soon as possible. Although you don’t need it, we’re here and proud that you’re taking the first step. 

Remember, we’re always rooting for you.