Growing Pains

“He who knows others is wise. He who knows himself is enlightened."
-Lao Tzu

Greetings folks! Growing up is tough to do, hence the reason why most people aptly describe the process as experiencing “growing pains.” You want to be big, strong and tall but who really wants to go through the process of buying 3 different wardrobes within the span of a year. You want to grow a mustache (if you’re a guy) but who wants to go through the process of cutting themselves on their first or 10^th shave. You want to be the best man or woman you can be for yourself and that special someone that may come into your life, but who really wants to go through the pain of self-realization? The answer is no one.

Growing up sucks, in large part because it hurts. Take a look at adolescence, that time in your life when your parents don’t know who or what you are and neither do you. For me it was the time in my life when I went from being the sweet innocent little boy my parents knew and love to the spawn of Satan they contemplated giving up for adoption or leaving in the wilderness.

For most people it’s the time where you’re growing up, out and changing on the inside. You’re experiencing new feelings, new emotions and nothing fits any more. You’re trying to counterbalance your new found feelings for the opposite sex and the fact that you now have hair in places that didn’t have hair before, which is totally freaking you out. Nothing makes sense any more, no one understands you, everyone is against you, and nothing fits!

Once you’re done going through the “adolescent changes” physically there’s still all of these emotional changes you have to endure. It’s figuring out your likes and dislikes, your strengths and weaknesses, for some, your sexuality. What’s worse and very sad to admit is that it doesn’t end with the conclusion of puberty. In fact, this period of figuring out who we are continues for most of us well into adulthood, before a brief break, then picks right back up in the fifties with a little thing called a “mid-life crisis.”

I thought that after I hit my growth spurt that I was done. Then I grew another inch in college and realized that I wasn’t. It was exciting. I also thought that I was done with the emotional growth. I wasn’t. I’m not. Apparently, I’m still growing and have some growing up to do. Quite frankly this couldn’t have come at a worse time. I’m done with college, I have a law degree, a couple of professional licenses and I’m ready to wear my big boy pants. To have to deal with the fact that I still have more growing to do as a man and a person really throws a wrench in my plans. “Ain’t nobody got time for that!”

Alas, I must make time. I must make time to embrace the change that I need to make in my life and realize that as fantastic of a person I think I am, and I think everyone else thinks I am, there’s still room for improvement. I’ve realized that no matter how much I grow, there’s still more room for growth. I don’t want to stop growing because it means that I’ve started dying and I’m not ready for that. While I don’t have a whole lot of room on my calendar for the growing pains I have no choice but to make room for it. I may as well embrace it, like the illegitimate child you found out about when they turned 6. It’s here now. You may as well do the right thing.

You see I’ve realized that I’m not perfect. I know what many of you are thinking “it’s about damn time.” Ha! Seriously though, I’m not perfect and I know that there are still some things I’d like to change about me before I can truly be the man my family and friends are proud to know and the man I’m proud to be. As such, I’m enduring these growing pains like a man, or post-pubescent teen, whichever one fits best. Until next time, Stay Up and Be Blessed!