Has there ever been a moment when you tried something new and failed? Many people have, myself included, but it’s important not to quit after one failure.
According to Psychology Today, self-growth can be described as “a process of developing new skills, attitudes, actions, or reactions that can have a positive impact on your life and increase your overall well-being.” In general, the idea of self-growth is something important, but at the same time it can be something scary.
It can be daunting to try to make minor or major changes in your life, and often after the first few failures, you may feel demotivated to keep trying. Im my opinion, there’s a large difference between trying to better yourself and completely changing your personality and lifestyle. Both take a lot of initiative, but trying to completely change yourself can cause burnout a lot faster than the other.
Finding that initiative can be difficult, but the University of Arizona lists some great ways to start which includes: accepting challenges, shaping your vision for personal success, positive self-expectancy, and not worrying about failure. I believe that the fear of failure or judgment is one of the biggest demotivators when it comes to making a positive change.
I feel like there comes a moment in everyone’s life when they start to figure out their interests, their dislikes, and boundaries in life. It’s also during these moments that self-growth is most challenging for some. It’s very easy to compare yourself to your classmates or friends, but if you only focus on your flaws, it’s possible to be blinded to the progress that you’re making within yourself.
Besides trying to hold yourself in a positive light, it’s essential to understand that growth isn’t always about suddenly getting the best grades, but about allowing yourself to ask for help from the professor or a classmate instead of struggling by yourself. A lot of the changes in your life aren’t immediate, or even are invisible most of the time, though that doesn’t mean they aren’t happening.
Just because you want to change yourself doesn’t mean that who you are now or who you were in the past was terrible. Every day you learn something new about yourself, and that means progress. There are three things I would recommend to help track this progress. Take a photo of yourself every day, no matter what. While this may sound silly, it can serve as both a visual documentation of your progress and a memory book for yourself.
The second is to journal, either every day or once a week. Many therapists recommend journaling as an outlet for your emotions, but one could also think of it as a diary of sorts. If writing things down isn’t a strong suit, then my last recommendation is voice recording or recording daily videos. Similar to journaling, therapists recommend it as a way of vocalizing your fears and worries instead of letting them boil up.
No matter what method you use to track your progress, every action you toward bettering yourself matters.