I love inspiration quotes and puns and this recent phrase on LinkedIn really stuck with me. Get up and Go conveys this idea of rushing out the door in the morning and apathetically sprinting through your daily tasks, whereas Get up and Grow makes me think about slowing down, absorbing, and learning.
Constantly going without growing can certainly affect your happiness and mental health. I don’t know about you, but often I find myself leaning toward the Go. So how do we best nurture our roots, and stop cutting ourselves off at the stems?
Like a plant, we need specific conditions to help us be the best version of ourselves. Though plants can grow in a multitude of places, they have a native home where they grow their very best – a home with a preferred environment, nutrients, and symbiotic neighboring plants. Humans are the same! We all crave what my roommate calls “native soil.”
Your “native soil” could be a community of close friends, an office of positive coworkers, a neighborhood you love, and often all three. How can you Get up and Grow if you are dreading the day? How can you learn with excitement if your surroundings are uninspiring? It’s certainly doable (like I said, plants can grow all over) but you won’t be unlocking your greatest potential. We want to make sure we are potting ourselves in our native soil, with access to the resources we need to grow strong and vibrant.
This is easier said than done, but even just acknowledging it is a step in the right direction. Recognize if you’re going without growing, and work on sprinkling your native soil into your weekly routine. Meet up with friends who inspire you, try taking on a new passion project at work, or develop a skill you’ve always been interested in. Maybe even look into new jobs or uproot and move entirely.
Regrowth is always possible. I recently replanted a succulent from a beautiful bouquet my mom sent me. It was almost dead, but after a few weeks in its new soil and sunlight, it flourished. Humans are no different. So, (at the risk of being repetitive), have a wonderful week and Get up and Grow!
