Outgrowing something doesn’t make it bad. Your kid shoes weren’t bad. Your feet just got bigger.
CREATIVITY
WHAT THIS MEANS
It is tempting to run down what you have left in order to justify leaving it. The club, the friends, the course, the version of yourself that liked them: all of it gets rewritten as a mistake, when the truth is simpler. The fit changed because you did, and that is not a complaint about either of you.
Notice whether you are badmouthing something you grew out of. Try the plain version instead: that was right for me then and it is not now. It costs nothing and keeps your own past from turning into a list of errors.
A QUESTION TO SIT WITH
Did you leave something behind that was never actually wrong?
MORE IN GROWTH, CHANGE & REINVENTION
- Going from top of the class to average in college is a common shock. The pond got bigger. You didn’t get smaller.
- The first time you supervise friends at work, some will test you. Fair beats cool.
- Being the big sibling sometimes means carrying their stuff and your stuff. Strength looks boring up close.
Free, with nothing to buy inside it.