Personal growth and self-improvement tips sound grandiose to the ears and body in action. We always believe that when we finally start seeing the signs of either of them, it has to be major.
What if I told you that your growth journey involves accepting subtle changes here and there, the eerily easily neglected ones?
The jarring aftermath of this realization can send us back to where we are coming from if we don’t expect that changes can be subtle at times. In fact, most times.
That’s because they are.
Changes can be subtle despite how long or hard they were sought after. And it’s this subtlety that culminates into the “great” change you were initially expecting. The grandiose one.
For example if you thought to stop people-pleasing because you realized its negative effects in your life, your first expectation might be something as big as waking up and saying no to the things you always said yes to. While that’s not a bad move, especially if it was needful at the moment it was used, it can be impractical if you didn’t pass through the little consistent steps to getting there or if you don’t understand why you had to say no in the first place.
The normal way change occurs is in the form of an iron in the fire, like a Phoenix undergoing rejuvenation, in such a way that when you rise, it’d usually look like a miracle had just happened — as if you thoughtlessly decided to go on a whim and do what you just did. Whereas for ages, decades, you had been praying and working hard behind the scenes for such change to take effect.
Now, this is one way.
The other way is when the change finally occurs but in a non-conspicuous way. The way which only you would acknowledge that there’s been a change and nod to that “fact”. The way where you know things happened differently, although seemingly the same.
Figures is: if you were self-aware enough to decipher the need for change, you’d be aware also when the change takes effect no matter how subtle. But surely be open-minded that in an overarching way, change is bound to mostly occur in subtlety — and be willing to embrace that and be grateful.
Big things start small. Addictions never diminish without prior subtle mental and or physical work, likewise, other unhealthy lifestyle changes.
It’s up to you.
See the change in you, even if nobody else can see it or nobody acknowledges it. There’d come a time when the power of compound effect re-navigates you to facing the big changes that’d have occurred solely because you were able to embrace the subtle ones beforehand.
