Growth, Grit, and the Courage to Become

I was sitting in my pickup truck one day recently taking a break from “peopling” over my lunch hour - and if you've been around here for any length of time, you'll know that's where quite a few of my podcast episode ideas seem to be born (apparently, my brain does its best work when I'm hiding from people).

On this particular day, I was parked near a playground, watching a small group of kids scrambling all over the equipment.

Climbing.

Jumping.

Running.

Launching themselves down the slide without a second thought.

And as I watched them, I found myself wondering: “Do you remember what it felt like to do things before you knew you were supposed to be afraid?... Before you learned to overthink so many of your decisions?... Before you started worrying about whether you'd fail?...”

Before it ever occurred to you to worry about whether you'd look foolish… whether you were qualified… whether you were good enough…. whether you were allowed.

Because those kids weren't standing at the top of the slide conducting a risk assessment. They weren't wondering whether they had enough experience to attempt sliding. They weren't worried about what the other kids might think if they landed on their backside at the bottom.

They just climbed the ladder and went. And unfortunately, somewhere between childhood and adulthood, many of us stop doing that.

We start collecting stories.

Stories about who we are and what we're capable of. Stories about what people like us do and don't get to do or about what happens if we fail. Stories about whether we're enough.

And over time, those stories become so familiar that we stop questioning them.

We simply assume they're true.

As I prepare to wrap up the first season of Transformative Journeys, that afternoon came back to me and I began to look back over the conversations we've had here. Not necessarily the episodes that had the most downloads... Not even necessarily my favourite episodes. What I was really thinking about were the conversations that were sort of like pages over time in a diary when viewed together.

A story about courage.

A story about self-trust.

A story about questioning old narratives.

A story about becoming.

And perhaps most importantly...

A story about discovering that maybe we deserve to become something more than the roles we've always occupied.

When I first started this podcast, I thought I was creating something. A project maybe. A bit of a creative outlet for myself. A platform for sharing some of the lessons I'd learned through the years, on grief, resilience, healing, and growth.

And while all of that absolutely ended up being true... Something I never really anticipated started happening.

This podcast was quietly becoming part of my own growth journey.

What surprised me most wasn't how much I learned about podcasting (although trust me - there was plenty of that… unknown software… recording… learning to edit audio and video… publishing… becoming an one-woman production team… plus what felt like 7,500 other things I had zero idea I’d need to learn when I started).

The surprise didn’t have anything to do with the actual podcasting stuff. In fact, there were two surprises I never saw coming.

The first was that the original concept for the thing things I was going to talk about very quickly evolved. In the beginning, I thought I was speaking to people who were going through or had been through hard things. How to take care of your emotional and physical well-being… How to thrive instead of just survive… How to build resilience.

It turns out that my compass led me to talk about the everyday life stuff. The day-to-day, hard stuff around learning what if means to step into your own life with more courage, strength, and intention.

The other really unexpected surprise was that I ended up talking about stuff that weren’t simply things I'd learned in the past.

They were things I was still learning. Sometimes repeatedly. Sometimes reluctantly. Sometimes while my Impostor Syndrome was staging a prison break from the attic. Often while I was having an “Oh sh*t” moment myself.

And usually while I was discovering that I still had plenty of my own stories left to rewrite.

Another big lesson for me has been recognizing that insight doesn't automatically create change. Knowing something doesn't automatically mean we do it. Having a better understanding of ourselves doesn't automatically transform us.

Growth requires practice. It requires discomfort. Real growth requires action. And sometimes? Growth means taking the first step to begin climbing the ladder even when you're pretty sure the slide is going to burn your ass all the way down.

One of the things that kept surfacing again and again as I developed the episodes during this first season is that, even though we can sometimes forget… or feel like we don’t… we have more agency than we often realize.

Many things are completely out of our control. We often don’t get to choose everything that happens to us, and life has a way of changing the rules without asking if we’re ready for it.

But…

We do get a vote in what comes next. We are allowed to question old stories and internal narratives. We get to decide which beliefs still feel relevant to us, and we can choose whether we want to stay where we are… or step forward into an unknown and allow ourselves to choose who we become.

And perhaps one of the biggest things I've taken away from these first 49 episodes is… Life changes us - that’s pretty much inevitable.

But do you know what? It’s okay if we opt to change too. We get to decide if we have outgrown old versions of who we've been. It’s okay to stop living in stories that no longer fit, and pick up the pen to write the next chapter ourself.

And it’s totally okay to become someone different than we've always been.

In fact… just maybe…

We actually deserve to.

I don't know most of us ever really reach the top of the mountain. And some people get to the top and just move along to choose a different mountain.

Because there’s always another lesson… A new challenge we can take on… Another opportunity to grow – if we choose to.

What I do know, is that reaching the summit isn't really the point.

The point is the climb. It’s the journey.

It’s the route on the map that we choose, and who we become along the way.

So know this…

The view from wherever you are right now might be more incredible than you realize – if you are willing to open your eyes to the view. And the possibilities.

So keep climbing.

Keep questioning.

Keep allowing yourself to Become.

And remember:

It doesn't matter if you fall.

What matters… is how well you bounce.

I look forward to new adventures with you in season two of Transformative Journeys.