In the summer of my 13th year, I grew about three inches in height. I enjoyed the surprise of my growth spurt, the attention it brought me through the exclamations and smiles of the adults in my world. It made the general craziness of puberty bearable. I felt proud and excited about what was to come.
Personal growth is a lot like that. We enjoy it after the fact, because it makes the wildness of life somehow worth it all. Today, I am most grateful for occasions life tossed my way that, in the moment, made me want to duck and dodge but produced a wonderful expansion of my soul later on.
I’m thankful for the people who didn’t always like me. At the time, the rejection and loneliness I felt were not pleasant, but after I allowed myself to cry it out, work through my sensitivities and try different methods to make peace with others, I learned a lot about myself.
In some cases, I discovered that I was deeply enjoyed and highly regarded, but due to my own filtered lenses, had made up stories about my life that simply weren’t true. What a relief it was to know that things were better than I thought in some situations. I learned to give myself grace.
I am thankful for my many embarrassing moments. My fiascos have provided comic relief to the heavier moments of my life. Some great stories that kept people laughing for days came out of them. Embarrassment taught me not to take myself too seriously. It keeps me guessing about what may happen next.