Happy People Choose Growth
Happy August! I hope you wrapped up July well and that you’re all set for an even better August 2024. Tanya and I are just back from an amazing week in Europe, where we visited Paris and Amsterdam. It was my first time in both cities. Paris was a little chaotic with all the pre-Olympics preparations, but amazing nonetheless. Amsterdam was my favorite, and I can picture us living there part-time sometime in the future.
You probably know that Paris is making huge investments in time, money, and resources to host the Summer Olympics. Paris is already well-known worldwide and is one of the most visited cities. One could reasonably ask, “Why would a city like Paris choose to endure the risk, expense, and disruption of hosting the Olympics?” My simple answer is “to grow.” The city is over 2,000 years old, with a metropolitan population of over 13 million people, and is already famous. And... it is choosing to grow. Not necessarily to grow in population but to grow in many other ways. I applaud the Parisians for supporting this choice.
My time in Paris got me thinking about growth as a topic for us—for people—personal growth.
I was in my mid-40s before I began growing as a person. I wasn’t a bad person before that; I was just on autopilot, doing what I thought other people thought I should do. Through the help of my coach, I changed all that and started on my journey of intentional growth in my virtues and values. I’ve come to learn that a life that is growing is not only more productive and “successful” but also happier.
Happy People Choose Growth.
Happy people choose to leave their comfort zone more often and challenge themselves.
Happy people pursue important projects while also improving their habits and mindsets. They steadily improve their mental and physical health, grow their faith, and improve their relationships with loved ones and others. They grow their competence at work and with hobbies. They intentionally pursue more peace, patience, and love.
Happy people enjoy the journey of working to live out their best lives—not “OK” lives, not average lives, but their best lives.
When I was in my corporate career, my plan was to work hard, invest well, and later retire and enjoy the good life. That is no longer my plan. My plan now is to work hard in a career that I love and never retire but keep on growing – doing cool things until the day I die.
I do believe that I am my happiest and most productive when I continue to grow in the areas of my life that are most important to me. I bet the same is or will be true for you.