Honey, you gotta grow to glow.

You don’t always notice when you grow, much like when you gain that couple of extra kilos, you won’t see it straight away but when you do, boom it’s loud, it’s obvious and it’s hanging over your once loose jeans for all to see. But today I want to talk about the good kinda growth. The one that you don’t notice at first then next minute you are sitting there reflecting and boom, it’s loud and it’s obvious and it kinda makes you all sorts of proud.

In the last few months I have taken on not only a new industry but a new beast of a role with many challenging personalities, studied graphic design after hours, maintained (most of) my friendships, spoken with my family (almost) everyday, trained consistently and somehow managed to start (and end) a new relationship.

Ask me six months ago if I would be working for a transport company, loving trucks, having the title of Brand & Marketing Manager without a Marketing degree, not over doing excessive cardio and actually wanting to attempt a relationship, I would have called you crazy. Yet six months later here I am, writing in my bedroom as I lick my wounds over an attempted relationship. Eish, I am damn proud. Because for me, the fact that I have tried, is huge and the fact that I tore down those walls, expectations and let vulnerability guide the way, is something the old Meg would never have been game enough to try.

You see growth is a crazy thing. You grow a little, you lose a little, you grow some more and you lose some more. But then, when you stop caring and you just embrace your journey of growth, you will grow some more and start to gain some more until more and more things in your life align. The more you grow, the more you glow.

I will interlude here and say that although I am predominantly referring to the growth of the mind, the soul, the heart and what’s inside of you I do want to touch on the growth of the external self as this is something which has recently been an “issue” for me and I know is for many others. For the last couple of years I have been super fit, minimal body fat and had abs which would’ve made most males jealous. But I was overtraining and often risking my hormones for it. Post COVID I started a new role outside of the fitness industry and through that have managed to take a step back and reduce to a healthier way of training. To say it has been hard is an understatement, I constantly battle back and forth around my slightly “softer” body and extra few kilos. But the thing is, perhaps I am not as fit as I was, but I am a lot healthier. My hormones are balanced, my curves are beautiful and I am still strong and fit. Sometimes growth is not easy, in fact a lot of the time it isn’t, but the harder it is - I find the more worth it it will be.

I use reflection to bring me back down to earth, to know that where I am is greater than where I was. And I am a lot more well rounded now, but in all the good places ;)

So being a Virgo, I love a good list. I put together a list of my top tips for growth (outside of exercise):

Be specific:

Write down what you want and where you want to be. You might think this is silly but let me give you real life proof. I found a journal entry I wrote in November last year and the first line was “In Feb 2020 I will stop working for Goodlife”. Because I KNEW that I was meant for something bigger and better. Well I didn’t step out of my comfort zone so the Universe PUSHED this girl right out of it and in Feb 2020 I was made redundant. Now I am in the biggest and most exciting career opportunity of my life. The day I was made redundant, I sat, completely oblivious to what was about to happen that day, and wrote in my journal that today for me was going to be about surrendering, about being grateful for what my employer had given me but to trust my next steps. It might sound crazy but when I walked into work and saw a meeting had been called, I knew what was coming but I was so calm because that morning I had journalled about surrendering, so I had surrendered.

You might think writing things down is pointless, but let me tell you something, it comes to fruition more often than not. This tool will change your life, or should I say - you will change your life with the help of this tip.

Get uncomfortable:

Look I don't want to bring up trucks again but I will. I went from fitness to freight, being in a team of 14 to a team of just me. From not dating to dating someone over 10 years my age with kids (I don’t even like kids?!). From overtraining and doing a form of cardio everyday to walking being my cardio. But all these things have made me grow, they have made me strong and they made me bloody brave. I knew nothing about the transport industry, nothing about working with these types of men, but that is why I took the job, because I knew that on the other side of that big scary as FK wall, a new version of me would be. And damn I like this new me. She is fierce, bold and so happy. Maybe the relationship didn’t work, but I am proud because I grew from it, I learnt I was more ready than I had realised and because I held true to what I believed and what I knew I deserved. And the fitness thing? Well my body might have some extra curves, kilos and body fat, but damn I love this body because it doesn't’ define me, it compliments an already cool and fun chick.

Always stay true to you:

Growth will always be kind to you if you are true to yourself, the right things that are meant for you will happen and you will not only grow but you will flourish. The relationship I just got out of would have sufficed for most people. He made me laugh frequently, the chemistry and sex was a whole nother level and afterwards we always had ice cream and spooned. For once it was not just me spooning ice cream out of the tub alone! But only one blog post prior I had written about just because you are lonely, it does not mean you should settle for something which you know does not align with you. My heart wanted him but my soul knew that something was missing. I ignored my soul and persisted along, but eventually I knew the one person I needed to put first was me. I have spent way too long growing and learning to love this girl to let anyone come along and let me second guess who I am. Ripping that bandaid off hurt like a bitch but guess what? I not only learnt from it, I also grew from it. Now I can look at myself and be proud knowing the growth I had allowed me to walk away when old Meg would’ve gone round in circles a lot longer than I did, I mean I am human so I had to do a few back and forths before I finally just walked away.

Be Inspired:

Lastly, surround yourself with inspiration. Whether this inspiration is people, books, podcasts, posters (Spice girls poster on the bedroom wall anyone?), puppies, whatever it is - surround yourself with it so you have a constant reminder every day of where you want to get to or who you want to be. Those I keep close to me, inspire me. Sure we all have those Karens at work that you can’t choose to have around you but the ones you can choose, make sure they lift you up not drag that ass down. Even my room is decorated with things that make me want to create, the books make me want to write, the art makes me want to design and the colours make me feel calm and more centered. My desk at work has not only mudflaps (don’t ask if you don’t know) and branding pieces I love of trucks but also has quotes on work ethic and articles about culture. Create your environment, it will mould your mind and outlook more than you realise.

So that’s what I have to say about growth, it’s scary and it’s challenging but it’s exciting and always pays off. Remember to reflect and be damn proud of who you are, no matter where you are at in your journey.

Love, MDW