Growing Pains

July 3rd 2018

“Mistakes are the Growing Pains of Wisdom” ~ William Jordan

Whenever I think of a post idea, I try to find a quote that reflects my message and I really think the quote that starts this post hit the nail on the head. It is a short quote, but quite impactful. It states that in order to grow, we must make mistakes, and sometimes mistakes hurt. But that is all part of the process.

When you think of growing pains regularly, you think of that awkward phase of your life where you grew three inches in one summer and you spent the whole time feeling like people were pulling your limbs in two directions at once. I have come to realize though, that growing pains never stop.

Growing pains happen at all points in your life and show themselves in different ways. For example, graduating high school or college is a time in which you probably experienced growing pains. The pain of losing something familiar to be tossed out into the unknown makes you feel as though you are being pulled in many different directions without purpose. But, just like with growing pains, you come out taller…metaphorically.

Finding your first job, leaving your first job, finding your first love, leaving your first love, buying a car, buying a house, losing your wallet, losing a friend, moving away from home, all come with their fair share of growing pains. That is why I only partly agree with the quote of William Jordan.

I don’t feel as though our wisdom and growing pains are only experienced through mistakes and failure, but through change in general. I feel as though I grew just as much from finding my first love as I did from losing him. I find that I felt growing pains regardless if I won or lost, just simply because I was experiencing change.

Because that is what causes growing pains really, change. In the literal sense, growing pains come from your body growing faster than it seems to be able to keep up with. The change is what causes the growing pains and the bodies failure to adapt to the changes as quickly as it needs to contributes to how long the pains last.

That is why the same term is used in business. Growing pains in a young business is when the company finds difficulty adapting early on and as a result they sort of spend a lot of time floundering.

Both physical and professional growing pains are caused by two things; not adapting and change. That is why I feel like I have been experiencing growing pains for the last couple of years. I am struggling to adapt despite large changes in my life. However, this does not mean that me, the human body, or a young business aren’t trying to adapt, it just means we haven’t figured it out yet. And sometimes, we never truly realize we’ve figured it out until a while after.

One day, the growing pains in my legs stopped. I didn’t notice or realize until I thought about how it had been a long time since i felt the pain, but I didn’t realize what changed. That is because my body figured it out…and I will too one day.

Jess~