Personal Growth

By. Kylie Conroy

As September comes to an end, the air starts to get crisper and the leaves start to fall from the trees. The once-green leaves change into red and orange colors to remind us that nothing is ever meant to stay the same. Just as the seasons change before our eyes, we as humans and individuals do so as well, and that is the ever-changing beauty of life.

There's nothing negative to say about this change from summer into fall; Waking up to a chilly breeze coming through your window, not wanting to get out of the warm covers, but the one thing that gets you up is the thought of that warm pumpkin-spiced coffee flowing down your throat and warming up your chest, is incomparable to anything.

Fall is the perfect season to dress. The choices of fits are endless whether it's a sweater and jeans, a sweater and shorts, a skirt and a sweater, or some jeans and a top. The weather can't do you wrong, it's the perfect in between from being too hot or too cold.

Most people think of fresh starts as being the start of the new year to date on the calendar but I think September is the perfect start for opportunity for change, just as the seasons begin to change so can we. The start of fall is the perfect opportunity to start your personal growth journey you have been procrastinating to start. Or maybe you have been on this journey for some time, then it can be the perfect time to take a minute and reflect on how far you have come as a person and individual in whatever it is you have been working on.

For me personally, I have been on my own personal growth journey for some time now. Since running is such an important part of my life and my identity maybe I associate this reflection with the start of cross country - like a cycle of the year transitioning to indoor, then into outdoor, and ending with summer training to start cross-up again.

With this fresh start of the new year, I finally think I'm in a place I want to be in or at the least a step in the right direction. I have always wanted to be the student-athlete I am right now. Balance itself is hard, especially when it comes to the balance between having fun and working hard. Something always has to give. How can we do the things we want to do, but also see the times on the clock that we have always dreamed of seeing and accomplishing? But then again at what cost does having fun diminish the possibilities of those times existing? Looking back on where I was last fall to now I wouldn't say I'm content with where I am but when reflecting on where I am now and where I was I could say I definitely have grown and developed from then.

Personal growth is probably one of the most important and beautiful things to be able to embrace. Recognizing the areas you have grown as an individual is one of the first steps to self-awareness that you are finally where you want to be. Or for that matter on the way to becoming who you want to be, because there's always room for more growth. Personal growth is the key to unlocking our full potential and the best possible version of ourselves.

How to navigate your personal growth journey? 

Everyday challenges:

Although many people think of accomplishing growth as tackling on huge challenges that life throws at us, it can also be as simple as taking on the simple challenges of every task and issue we are faced with. these little challenges we are faced with throughout the day help build up our resilience, confidence, and problem-solving skills that will keep us motivated to take on even bigger challenges we may face at times.

Sometimes getting the day through itself is a challenge to be celebrated. We all have those days where we wake up feeling like we want to stay in bed and there is no way we are getting through this day, but when we do make that decision to start our day it will be even better when we get back in bed that same night and rest our heads down, because you did it. You got through the day no matter what happened along the way, you made it.

For me, most of my everyday anxieties consist of thinking about other things I have to do later in the day. I used to not be able to stay completely present in my classes because I would be anxious or worried about the workout I had later in the day the race I had this coming weekend, the essay I needed to get done by midnight tonight, and so on. I made it a goal for me to try and stay present and get through each portion of my day focusing on getting through each in blocks of time. Breaking down each portion of my day also seemed to translate into my running workouts as well.

Instead of focusing on the whole, breaking down the workout into pieces makes it mentally a lot easier to manage and push through with that resilience. One rep at a Time. One class at a Time. One hour at a time. One day at a time. It's all about being present. I think this idea has really helped me overall with my anxiety and has been able to help me slow my brain down when it starts running in a million different directions at a time.

Self-reflection:

Self-reflection allows us to take a second to pause and reflect on our experiences. This is important because it allows us to gain valuable and important insight about ourselves in order for us to grow as people. By taking the time to gain insight and reflect we can recognize certain patterns, areas of strength, and areas of weakness. Reflecting can be the time that we take a second to think about all of the things we did accomplish that day and be content in celebrating those accomplishments no matter how small they may be. Self-reflection can be looking at what we did wrong and what we can do differently, we can ask ourselves questions on how we can be better for tomorrow: Was I really negative today? Did I not eat enough today? Was I just “getting through the day”? What can I do differently tomorrow?

I started to self-reflect in the last couple of days more so about my whole year. I started to think about my running in particular:

I began to think about the times I was running last year and my times now and that in itself is something to be proud of yes, but when I started thinking a little deeper it's not the times themselves that's something to be proud of, but the work it took for me to accomplish the times and the placement. Thinking about what I was struggling with last year and where I was last year compared to now that's something to celebrate and be proud of in itself because I was able to overcome many of the inner obstacles I was fighting and came out stronger on the other side.

This self-reflection is Important to do from time and time because although we do overcome thoughts and obstacles that doesn't mean they come back from time to time. But the strength to reflect and recognize causes us to remember why we're doing what we are doing and how far we have come and that should motivate us to keep going instead of maybe falling back into those bad habits.

Learning from our experiences

Without self-reflection which is listed above, we wouldn't be able to learn from our experiences. We experience it every day whether we choose to realize it or not. Taking a step back to tackling the smaller challenges, these are still experiences we are able to learn from. We learn from them by reflecting and doing better for next time and taking what we learned along with us as we take on a new challenge.

Many experiences we do learn from are obstacles or challenges that we are faced with. But instead of viewing them in this light, you can begin to see them as learning opportunities instead.

Learning from the challenges we overcame and took on is the key to growth because it shows that we are aware of how we tackle the challenges and what we did to be able to overcome them.

When I had a stress fracture I realized a lot about my own strength emotionally mentally and physically. I didn't give up on the goal of becoming the best runner I could be. I didn't go into the summer with a negative mindset, I went in with motivation remembering the feeling of wanting more and wanting it all for myself. I learned that in order to give myself a full shot I need to work on my mental strength when things get hard instead of letting that take over me.

Creating a solid foundation for growth:

Growth is not linear. Nothing in life is, but we can develop a solid strong donation for ourselves to be able to continue to grow and navigate the challenges and obstacles we might bump into instead of starting from rock bottom again. This foundation can be different for everyone personally but as for me and my continuous foundation I like to prioritize myself.

Self-care is an important foundation for growth because it gives us the time to possibly be able to reflect and have time to do so when needed. This self-care can be different for everyone whether that is journaling, silence, or just time to be alone.

Getting and keeping your priorities straight: That can include asking yourself: What is more important at this moment for me? and what's going to benefit me the most. This sometimes can include the thought of feeling good at that moment during a rep in a workout. Choosing between giving up and not pushing myself because in that moment feels good and instead pushing myself and hurting only benefits me for the future, that will translate during a race, when I'm in pain and need to pass the girl in front of me or whether it's napping because I'm tired instead of hanging out with my friends or do I need to hang out my friends even though I'm tired I need some socializing in me Boundaries: Boundaries are important because they give us the balance on the side of taking care of ourselves first. That means, saying no when I want to or not doing something because I simply just don't want to and I don't mean "going to class" or doing my homework because there are things in life we may not want to do but we don't really have a choice. but actively choosing to do things you do not want to do can be damaging Maintaining a positive mindset and blocking out negativity removing yourself from situations you do not want to be a part of: talking bad about people when there's nothing

Lifetime experience:

Personal growth is a subjective experience and a lifelong journey for each individual. This is not a one-time achievement, it's a constant journey of continuous self-improvement as we go through life.

We each have our own different challenges and ways we tackle them and experience those challenges differently from those around us.

There is no destination or end goal for this journey or maybe there is but there is always more room for further growth. Our growth is like the seasons were constantly changing and adapting to our environments, and challenges, but although there may be no finish line, it is beautiful to reflect every now at each mile marker and stop to embrace and celebrate milestones that we can look back at and be happy for the growth we have accomplished.

We do have the power to be able to shape our own growth and become the best version of ourselves because it's our own decision to do so. We can't sit around waiting for change to happen, we have to make the ultimate decision to do so.

over the summer I actively chose to train to develop into the athlete I want to be

It wasn't going to come out of nowhere.

Last year when I decided I wanted it… it took me a year of journey to finally see some sort of results.

It came with challenges.
It came with a setback. 
It came with a comeback.

But that comeback led to wanting more and continuously training. That means not giving up and a lot of consistency. Now just because I'm subjectively "doing well" doesn't mean I should not continue to grow and work hard because there's no destination or ending for growth. New obstacles unfortunately will continue to pop up but that just means that there are further growth and opportunities that will arise within us.