Change Happens: Thrive Anyway
When I was a kid, I wanted nothing more than to speed up time. I could not wait to be grown up, to be in charge of my life. All I wanted was the ability to create my own path and enact my own dreams.
Fast forward to adulthood, when I quickly realize how little actual control and autonomy is available to the average adult human. Dreams take a back seat to bosses and bills and schedules and expectations.
Growth: the thing that happens to us between one moment and another. The process through which we transition from what we were to what we will become.
But what is it and how does it happen?
One thing we know for certain is that growth only happens when we are open to it. We have the ability to literally push growth away, reject that new way of being so that we can stay in our safe bubble where everything is familiar and nothing is surprising.
Sounds comfy, right? Or maybe it sounds cramped and uncomfortable?
What if instead of pushing growth away, we embrace it, welcome it and commit to learn from it.
Think about the pandemic: no one was embracing all the ways it changed our daily lives. And yet, three years later, we have grown from those experiences, we have learned that we are more resilient than we knew and that we can adapt to new conditions and expectations.
In the year since we started JFC, I have experienced a LOT of growth. I started out with lots of evidence of my skills and value as a community development strategist, but I had no evidence of my ability to run a business. Now I do.
That’s growth.
It was also terrifying. If you are ever thinking about starting a business, maybe do some research so you are not learning every single thing in practice. Trust me.
I am so jazzed about the spark that happens when people realize that they are capable of growth. I love the energy that comes from stepping bravely into not knowing. It is such a gigantic exercise in trusting the universe, and because of that, it is extremely fertile ground for us to learn new things about ourselves and about our world.
This quarter at JFC, we are going to be talking a lot about growth and launching some things that will help you grow as an individual and will amplify community growth and connectedness.
A year in, we are excited to invest in you: where you are today and where you dream of being, and all the stuff in between!
Let’s go…