Walking to the store

One of the most compelling stories I have ever heard on the concept of personal development is the idea that personal growth is similar to taking a walk to the store. Personal growth is hard, growing isn't necessarily natural, and at times it can actually be uncomfortable. When you are trying to gain a new skill or improve upon an existing one there are times when it easy and times when it is really challenging. Now let’s compare this to walking to the store. When you walk to the store, it takes times. You don’t step out of your house, and instantly arrive at the store. You have to go up hills, you have to watch out for obstacles on your path, and there are times when the weather is really not in your favor and the walk really sucks.

Applying that same logic to personal growth, we see sometimes there is a disconnect. People, myself included, sometimes get impatient and wonder why they haven’t grown more, or why they haven’t mastered a skill yet. They wonder why it is so hard, or why it is taking so much longer than they expected. Which is very rational response. When you are on a walk you are able to instantly look around and realize how far you have come, you are able to instantly see that you walked X blocks, and understand how much further you have to go. With a skill like public speaking it is a lot more difficult to see that, you cant quantify your progress as numerically, so a lot of times you can feel as if you are still at the starting line, taking that first step, when in reality you are down the road.

Emotions and the effect they have on a journey: If you are walking somewhere, it doesn't matter how upset you are, how angry you are, how anxious you are, you are not going to get closer to your destination unless you keep walking. In fact, when you are stressed, unhappy, and anxious you are more likely to cloud your thinking, making you more likely to miss a turn, stumble over an obstacle, or actually slow you down.

Not every walk is going to be sunshine and rainbows, there are going to be days where its hailing, and the cold wind is blowing right on your face, and on those days you may walk less, but all that matters is that you just keep moving forward. The poetic part about comparing personal growth to a walk to the store, is that with walking to the store it is very obvious to see how in order to get to the store all you have to do is just keep moving in the right direction. That is all there is to it. Just keep walking. Lastly, don’t compare your self to the other people on their own walks, just focus on making sure that you are continually moving forward on your own journey.