Growth Is Optional

I recently started gardening... for some reason, I went a little crazy on heirloom tomato seeds. Not having what anyone would define as a "green" thumb I decided in the interest of achieving hopefully a single fruit bearing plant I should plant 36 seeds. I watched anxiously as they sat in their little seed trays on my dining room table until one day I spotted a little speck of green...in ALL the trays. Now there are 36 large tomato plants in my greenhouse, how that happened is still a mystery to me but a lovely one indeed. The unexpected outcome and watching these little tiny specks of green turn into large thriving plants has me thinking a lot about growth in general.

I hear a lot about "growth"... A.Lot. Every day, all day, companies wanting growth, individuals wanting growth, it's woven into the fabric of my role in marketing. Growth. When I was younger, growth looked like "success". Better job, better car = growth. For companies/firms growth is usually measured along the same lines, bigger, more powerful, more profitable, who doesn't want that?

I'm not touching the corporate model today although I think it deserves attention to be sure, but I've grown to know that I don't know everything, so I'm going to focus on growth relative to my life. Looking back, I've missed most of the growth spurts while propelling myself full steam at the obvious ones. Growth was all about what was next, bigger, better, faster... I missed the whole point. Growth is optional, no matter how "high" you get. Growth is that little centimeter you add on when you realize that it's not so much what the choices you make are, but why, when you listen to yourself and actually see all the internal dialogue, not just the parts that make sense. Growth is recognizing that you're making the choice, taking responsibility for it, honoring it, choosing what to do about it, or not. Recognizing that sometimes there is nothing to be done, and being able to move on. Growth, for me, is not about not making mistakes (even the same ones), it's not about trying to make them either but more about the appreciation that's developing for why some choices, regardless of how they appear, are ultimately wiser than others. Now as for wisdom, that's definitely for another day...