I recently heard a lady talking about her teenage son having a sudden growth spurt and finding that his jeans were now too short for him. He was quite disappointed because these had been his favourite jeans! He kept trying them on hoping that somehow he could get away with wearing them, but eventually he realised he had to let them go because they just did not fit anymore.
This snippet of a story is a great reminder that we too are continually outgrowing things in all areas of our lives. We outgrow relationships, jobs, our approaches to money and wealth and what we thought we knew about spirituality.
Growth is natural. We never stop growing – we learn new things all the time and as our knowledge and understanding grows, our old beliefs and patterns of behaviour change. We can try to marry up the old and the new, but eventually, just like the teenage boy’s jeans, we have to let go of the old ways.
And this can feel disappointing and uncomfortable particularly when our old support structures and relationships haven’t been on the same growth and development trajectory.
Just like the teenage boy who was disappointed that the jeans no longer fit, we too have our favourite things we love to do and favourite people we love to hang out with. But when we have a growth spurt in knowledge and understanding, it can be disappointing to no longer do what we loved to do and it can feel disappointing the let relationships go.
But what’s the alternative? Stunt our growth?
Well, many people do choose that option. They would rather stick with the familiar and stunt their own growth and expansion rather than stepping into their new ways.
But others are braver. They see the benefits and opportunities of the new ways of being and, although they may experience pangs of disappointment and although they may be stepping forward whilst feeling fearful, they still step forward.
They stop trying to make those old jeans fit and they go out and get a new pair of jeans to step into.
