THE 2020 EMOTIONAL GROWTH SPURT

We are all familiar with physical growth spurts and have marveled when a child wakes up one morning and seemingly appears to have grown three inches overnight. The child usually feels very powerful and joyful when this happens.

This year, I have noticed that there is another type of growth spurt taking place. It’s an emotional one, and you may have experienced it yourself.

Through these quarantine months, I have observed emotional growth spurts in clients, friends, and myself. Unlike a physical growth spurt, many people aren’t even aware that this has taken place. A “shift” has occurred, and in many cases, there has been some discomfort or even pain. Just like a physical growth spurt.

COVID_19, hurricanes, social isolation, virtual work, social unrest, have all contributed to an internal shift in many of us.

It is nearly impossible to have lived through these last several months and not have felt an emotional growth spurt. You may not have been conscious of it, but it has occurred. Think about yourself and what changes and internal shifts you have experienced since March.

Right now I am thinking about this as well and how cool it would be to have an opportunity to have a huge Zoom group session and hear how all of you have personally welcomed-or fought-what might be happening deep within you.

How you deal with and move forward despite tragedy and turmoil is what I want you to focus on when you think about the question that was asked earlier.

In these last months, I was overjoyed (as always) to have worked with clients who’ve used what they have learned in coaching to embrace opportunity and ride their emotional growth spurts to success!

For example:

A young client took the opportunity after an unsatisfactory end of the spring semester to do a re-set of his values and priorities, changed his major, and found peace and success.

Another young client realized that her perfectionism and critical self-talk had drained her life of any happiness and fulfillment. As a result, she is on an exciting journey to accepting and loving who she is.

A single mother after having a brief moment of panic used this quarantine to modify her business to go online and find great success.

These are just a few examples of clients, who instead of making a choice to feel anger or helplessness, used this unsettling time to grow and prosper.

You’ve seen in previous newsletters, friends who reached deep inside during this time and used their talents to help others by making masks and creating art.  Friends, family, and clients have lost jobs, suffered traumatic personal losses, and experienced mental health issues. They all had a choice in how to respond; 1-give up, or 2-make a choice to weather the storm and find the place inside of them that makes it possible to succeed and move forward.

HOW YOU DO ONE THING IS HOW YOU DO EVERYTHING

This is one of the foundation principals of the coaching program I attended. Think about it. There’s a lot of truth in that statement. How do you resonate with this?

We have all gone through growth spurts since March 2020. Yes, many times it was and still is, painful, however rather than focusing on that pain, explore the opportunity that is presented to you.

OPPORTUNITY ALWAYS EXISTS

So friends, continue to experience growth and ride the wave! There is no limit to the number of emotional growth spurts an evolving human being can experience. How you choose to experience it, however, will determine how fruitful it will be.