As a child, I used to watch the Oprah Winfrey Show. Along the way, I noticed she kept changing and growing, doing more great things and becoming the most influential woman on television. Today she is an icon!
We saw this incredible person transform before our eyes into the woman she is today. She was confident in what she did and knew her worth. Simply mentioning a product on her list of favorite things can cause it to become extremely popular.
We are designed to develop and progress, yet there are times when life gets in the way and we become stagnant. As a child, you aspire to excellence. As we mature as adults, we cease to be the same people we were five or ten years ago.
In some ways, we’re still growing. There are no limits to personal development.
“We can’t become what we need to be by remaining what we are.” – Oprah Winfrey
What is Personal Growth?
Personal growth is the act of growing as an individual in multiple areas including mental, physical, and emotional health.
There are 5 aspects of personal growth and development:
- Mental
- Spiritual
- Emotional
- Physical
- Social
Let’s review these 5 areas in depth
- Your mental development, including how you learn and think is the emphasis of mental growth. Because people lack the skills to take charge of their emotions, manage relationships, and have a positive outlook on life they tend to fall apart.
Strengthening the mind is a great way to achieve mental growth. We should replace negative thinking with positive or productive thoughts.
- Spiritual growth entails letting go of negative beliefs, and accepting your inner reality. It helps you to broaden your thinking and view things from a different angle. It requires getting past the mind and the ego to realize who you actually are.
We learn to control our inner selves and our state of mind as a result of spiritual development.
- Emotional development is the ability to express, experience, and comprehend a wide range of emotions in a healthy manner. Being aware of your own and other people’s emotions, as well as exercising emotional self-control and discipline.
Basic emotions like happiness, rage, fear, and surprise are ones that we all experience. Emotions become much more complicated over time.
We learn how to respond to circumstances when we are young, and we recall those lessons and make use of them as we encounter new situations.
- Taking care of one’s body is part of physical growth. All elements of your personal growth are influenced by your physical health. The ability to sustain physical health is crucial for development.
It is difficult to feel psychologically and emotionally secure when we are not in good physical condition.
- Social growth involves knowing how to speak clearly and actively listening. Gaining self-confidence and self-esteem are also important.
It focuses on having positive experiences. It is how we can deal with other people in different groups in our society. It is the process of learning how to make and keep healthy connections.
A person’s social growth throughout their lives is greatly influenced by their relationships with their parents, siblings, friends, and romantic partners.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” – Albert Einstein
How do we grow as individuals?
Personal development helps you establish good habits so you may become the greatest version of yourself and enjoy a more meaningful life.
You can take the following steps to promote your personal development:
- Practice gratitude
- Accept that setbacks are only temporary
- Adopt a healthy lifestyle
- Try something new to get out of your comfort zone
- Decide what your values are
- Make both short-term and long-term goals
- Allow yourself enough time to rest
- Pray
- Meditate
- Learn that Forgiveness is for your sake, not theirs.
- Increasing self-awareness
- Practice active listening
- Read more
“One can choose to go back toward safety or forward toward growth. Growth must be chosen again and again; fear must be overcome again and again.” – Abraham Maslow
What are the barriers to personal growth?
Things will constantly slow us down or derail us on our route to greatness. Life will throw obstacles in our path whether we like it or not; this does not mean we have to keep tumbling. It is our responsibility to figure out how to get around them.
When you fall 7 times get up 8!!!
Here are some of the most common roadblocks to our progress:
Fear, Fear, and more Fear
People are unable to progress because they are afraid of failing. Being uncomfortable is the most difficult thing a person can do. But after you take that first step, you’ll realize it’s not as scary as you thought.
A lack of self-discipline
People struggle with self-discipline because we dislike doing anything difficult, unpleasant, or new. We are easily distracted, insecure, and dissatisfied.
Make a strategy to prioritize your objective, learn to be uncomfortable, and visualize yourself as successful.
Refusal to accept responsibility
People who expect themselves to be flawless or have unrealistically high standards have difficulty admitting their faults and inadequacies. When we’ve done something wrong or made a mistake, it might be tough to admit it.
We must accept responsibility for our actions in order to improve.
Being in denial
It might be frightening to confront issues, and it’s simple to ignore them. But you must consider the source of your anxiety. Why do you get defensive under pressure? Whether we like it or not, we have to deal with stuff like this. The majority of it may be a result of prior trauma, but you can stop this harmful behavior.
No ambition
Circumstances force us to lose our motivation. How can we discover inspiration and life objectives to strive for? We must feel we deserve the best and create goals to attain success. Start off with small goals then as you go make your goals bigger.
No support system
Throughout our personal development path, we all require a little encouragement. It might be difficult without the support or inspiration of family, friends, or loved ones.
If you don’t have a support system, you may build one by joining professional organizations, meeting coworkers and neighbors, and using internet tools like meetup to find groups of like-minded individuals with your same interest or goals.
Negative attitude
A negative outlook may be extremely harmful to one’s personal development. We must alter our mindset so that we only pay attention to the good things in life rather than the constant bad.
We should always focus on the positives instead of the negatives.
Unmotivated
It is crucial that you have faith in your ability to achieve your goals. Every day, tell yourself you can accomplish it, and commit to taking action every day until you succeed. This will boost your self-confidence, and if you accomplish your objective, you’ll feel more confident and motivated.
Being prideful
Being prideful is detrimental to one’s personal development. There is a difference between confidence and arrogance. There is nothing wrong with seeking assistance. We all need help, and asking for it does not make you a bad person. In order to be successful we must humble ourselves.
Lack of patience
All worthwhile things take time; don’t expect quick results. You can’t smell the blossoms right away after planting a seed. It takes care and patience to develop into something lovely and in the end very rewarding.
“Be not afraid of growing slowly; be afraid only of standing still.”-Chinese Proverb
What is self-worth?
First, I will tell you what it is not! Your self-worth is NOT determined by others, always remember that.
Self-worth is the internal sense of one’s own value. It is recognizing you are worthy of all the things your desire. It is about giving yourself dignity, respect, a sense of belonging, identity, and security. It is the sense to feel and know that you deserve to be loved and cared for.
“To love yourself is a never-ending journey.” –Oprah Winfrey
How to increase your sense of self-worth and confidence
To become a better version of yourself and increase your confidence and self-esteem, you must do the following:
- First, learn to love yourself
- Identify and change any negative beliefs you have about yourself.
- Celebrate your achievements, however big or small.
- Never compare yourself to others because every individual is unique.
- Embrace your unique characteristics.
- Set and achieve personal goals.
- Read books on the areas you want to personally work on.
- Find motivational quotes or affirmations to read to yourself on a daily basis.
(I like to jot them down in a notebook or write them on a post-it note)
- Read books on whatever aspect of yourself you want to improve.
- Make a personal development plan and follow it.
- Find a mentor, establish a support system, and be around positive people.
- Find a hobby that will boost your confidence.
- Eliminate negative thought patterns.
We all want to live a happy life, and we all deserve to experience all that life has to offer. We must be proactive in our quest to achieve our objectives and be resilient in our efforts.
Remember to love yourself, take care of yourself, and be yourself!
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” ― Maya Angelou
