Ferns are a natural symbol of growth. Just to exist they battle bugs, storms, a tough layer of soil. Existing itself is a tiring.

But existing isn’t enough for ferns.  

Ferns reach.  

One by one their leaves create a lofty shape reaching far past the soil.  This comes from an intense push against the ground to rise higher, continuously breaking free of the physical limitations imposed upon them. Growth.

Growth doesn’t come from doing things you’re good at. Nor does it come from doing things you love. Real growth comes from a more uncomfortable place.  A place of challenges and obstacles that force us to constantly push to get above ground.

Growth comes from doing things you don’t want to do when you don’t want to do them.  It’s embracing the thing we resist and fear the most. Doing a great job working for someone else is growth.  Teaching yourself something you don’t like doing but need to learn is growth. Prioritizing tasks in the face of intense deadlines is growth. Admitting to yourself why you’re scared is growth. Not running away from your responsibilities is growth.

Most importantly, acceptance is growth.

Accept the thing you least want to do. Embrace it.  Pretend it was the very thing you were put on this Earth to do. Do it to the best of your ability and don’t think about the results.  Take the next step, finish the daunting task, get clear about your relationship.  

Effort counts. Battling the desire to flee counts. Realizing that the anxiety of fighting it outweighs the risk of doing it counts.

That’s growth.    

Now reach.