Why Grow Consciously?
What's the point in trying to improve yourself? If you solve one problem, more problems arise in its place. Shouldn't we simply accept who we are for our strengths and our flaws, and live our lives in peace? Personal growth requires you to identify areas in our lives in which we want to improve, doesn't that mean that we aren't accepting ourselves for who we are?
You don't need to grow consciously to live your life. You don't need to set goals, take risks, nor strive towards your dreams. It doesn't sound like a very inspiring life to me. Growth is a choice that you make yourself. If you want to live in peace with who you are without trying to improve, then don't bother. If you want to live a life of achieving nothing, then that's what you'll probably get.
Do you not want to be a better version of yourself? What if you were more productive, more motivated, and put more effort into everything you did? Wouldn't you get better results and feel as if you had more value? It's not easy to grow, whether it's worthwhile is up to you.
Life is an experience of growth. You start as a baby, and later you become a child, then a teenager, until you're an adult — and then eventually, you die. Growth is an unconscious process; you naturally grow over time. You still learn lessons and have experiences that shape the person you are — even if you don't try.
How about we try and accelerate this process, without ageing faster? If we take on new experiences, fight harder challenges, and learn from people with more experience than us — we can grow faster. This process of conscious growth makes us smarter, allows us to take on more significant challenges, helps us take better care of ourselves, and helps us make better decisions. It's a gateway to living a more fulfilling life, with a greater sense of worth. If we improve our diet, our lifestyle, our social life, our finances, our self-control, and a whole list of a thousand other things we can improve, wouldn't we experience a better life?
Conscious growth is not an easy process, however. It is full of challenges and obstacles. The faster you want to grow, the higher the hurdles are. Like anything of value, acquiring it takes effort and hard work. That's what gives it its value.
Going back to the issue, do you think that choosing to improve is not accepting who you are currently? Is the desiring improvement rejecting self-acceptance? I don't think so. Setting an intention to be in a better state in the future shouldn't conflict with the person who you are now. Even carrying out the process of trying to improve will make it easier to accept the person you are, because the person who is growing is moving in a better direction than the person who is stagnating or declining.
Living in both a state of self-acceptance and growth is a place where you find meaning and purpose in life and are living it consciously. Getting the best-of-both-worlds is an ideal state of being. If you find a sense of meaning in your life, you are much more likely to achieve this state. What is the meaning of your life? If you can answer that, you're much more likely to be on your way to finding self-acceptance while growing as a person. If you can't, then it can be very easy to fall back on the idea that self-acceptance and growth are two mutually exclusive things. You don't need to answer it now, though it can be something to ponder over.
I hope I've explained why conscious growth is something desirable if you weren't already convinced. For me, this article is an exercise in conscious growth. I didn't need to choose such a difficult topic to write about, nor get into so much depth. I haven't written anything like this before. If I never challenged myself, then I wouldn't have learned as much. Feel free to send me feedback on this article, I really appreciate it, and it helps me learn more. If you're more encouraged to grow consciously after reading this piece, a great place to start is my article on Limiting Beliefs.