Keep Growing

Guest Post by Brittany Kirk, Gibson Insurance

This year has been wrought with challenges…that’s quite an understatement, isn’t it? But, ever the optimist, I’ve recently found myself thinking about how each challenge has presented an incredible opportunity for growth.

I’ve found myself repeating the mantra: with great challenge comes great opportunity.

Shelter-in-place required businesses to rethink their business models. Layoffs and furloughs required employees to rethink their careers. E-Learning required families to rethink their normal interactions and schedules. Remote work has required us to rethink how we collaborate with teams and how we serve clients. The list goes on. Each of these challenges has presented an opportunity to shed the old and embrace the new. We have been forced outside of our comfort zones, outside of the familiar, and into unknown territory. But it’s in the unfamiliar where we experience the most growth.

There are two ways that we respond to hardship – we can wish it away, hoping that the pain will go away as quickly as possible, or we can embrace the challenge and grow through the struggle.

Our world is still being turned upside-down every single day. We have no idea how long this pandemic will last, but you can bet that we’re going to continue to face new and different challenges every step of the way. And each of those challenges will present a new and different opportunity. The question is, how will you make the most of those opportunities?

No one wishes for pain. No one wanted a pandemic or e-learning, or to close their business, or to lose their job. And yet, the way we respond will determine how we come out on the other side.

We are weary, yet we are finding strength we never knew we had. We are tired, yet we face each day knowing that there are people counting on us to show up. We long for the “old normal,” yet we stay hopeful for the future.

It’s okay to be tired. It’s okay to be weary, but we must not give up.

We must keep going. We must keep growing.