Growing pains: A humorous guide to personal development
Life, we know, is a rollercoaster ride! We usually learn to navigate things better once we have faced certain obstacles. Quotes like “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” encourage dealing with adversities as a big part of personal development. If starting personal development systematically, involves:
Self-assessment: Reflect on your strengths, weaknesses, values, and aspirations.
Goal setting: Identify specific goals you want to achieve
Learning and growth: Seek opportunities to learn new knowledge, skills, and experiences.
Action planning: Develop a plan with actionable steps to reach your goals.
Building personal development can Increase self-awareness and self-confidence, and improve communication and interpersonal skills. It also enhances resilience and can support career satisfaction and advancement opportunities. It also helps you connect more to yourself, and have stronger relationships and emotional intelligence.
So what if you could focus on improving yourself without waiting for these adverse situations, and learn to navigate the ups and downs of life with humor with more ease?
1. Explore and embrace your quirks: Personal development is about growing to be the person that you would like to be, and being more connected with yourself. Explore what your interests and quirks are and focus on enhancing them. Whether you're a serial list-maker or a spontaneity seeker, find what works for you and run with it!
2. Develop flexibility: One’s goals and plans can be exciting yet adaptable. Much like your body, building flexibility takes time and practice. Let plans be specific enough to guide you, but not open enough to bend when contingencies or surprises come your way.
3. Celebrate small wins: Always celebrate the achievements and moments, no matter how small they seem. Whether it's assembling some furniture or completing tasks decided for the day, acknowledging your effort and progress. We often find fewer reasons to enjoy, so don’t stop yourself from finding more reasons to!
4. Grow the inner child: Curiosity and silliness keep alive a sense of wonder and adventure - curiosity gave the cats nine lives! Explore new hobbies, indulge in random interests, take that solo date or trip — who knows where that latest obsession might lead? And remember, laughter is the best personal development tool! Read how you can learn to laugh through chaos.
5. Practice saying ‘No’: Even superheroes need to take time off and explore to understand if all things they’re doing align with their goals or values. Being assertive can be difficult, so practice it with the smallest things - offer to meet someone at a time that suits you and don’t give in to your cat asking for food before it is mealtime! You can learn more here!
6. Find a community: Find people who can let you be as you are, and lift you higher from where you are. Spend time focussing on developing and spending time with lasting relationships that fuel you, like your favourite food! Attending support groups and community meetups is a good place to begin.
7. Practice self-compassion: You're a work in progress, not a finished masterpiece! Allow yourself to make mistakes, give space for imperfections and accept that some days may not be productive, but you don’t have to earn rest or care, you deserve it!
8. Move like no one's watching: Physical health is personal development's lively best friend! Move your body, whether it's through salsa, yoga, or trying to find your remote. The smallest movements with consistency result in the best impact and retention.
9. Envision something larger than yourself: Be part of something bigger than your interests, like larger social causes or activities. Many not-for-profit organizations look for volunteers, from those who work with children and animals, to those for animals. Everyone looks for support, care and company - and being part of these can allow you to zoom out like the camera you’ll use to create memories at these places!
10. Reflect, Rinse, Repeat: Take moments to reflect on your journey, from the big times to the small situations. What are some areas that glow, what are some areas of growth and how would you like to help yourself move ahead? Giving time for reflexivity and processing can help in adjusting your course like a GPS that occasionally recalibrates when you get lost on the road or stop for a minute.
11. Build your repository: Here are some resources to get you started on your personal development journey:
- I’m Judging You: The Do-Better Manual by Luvvie Ajayi
- Who Moved the Cheese by Dr. Spencer Johnson
- Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brene Brown
- Marbles Lost and Found, a podcast
- The Healthy Indian Podcast
- Fursat Feminism, a podcast
The journey of personal development is a life-long process and is as unique as your music playlist! You can use these pointers as a guide, but remember to find what makes this special and effective for you. Most importantly, remember to have fun and stay in touch with what makes you unique and lets you be authentic.
FAQs
Is personal development important?
Yes, it is! Personal Development allows you to discover your potential, improve your skills and qualities, build self-confidence and lead a more fulfilling life. It also helps in adapting to changes, managing stress, and enhancing relationships. This can be an active long-term process or small decisions you take to slowly enhance the quality of your life.
Are personal development and self-help the same?
Personal development and self-help are similar but not the same. Self-help usually refers to resources (books, articles, seminars) that help individuals improve themselves, while personal development encompasses a wider range of activities and practices aimed at holistic growth and fulfilment.
