The gift of growth

What does it really take to be happy? The answer isn’t money or fame or a certain job. It’s progress. Progress equals happiness. This is why when we accomplish our goals, we don’t stay happy indefinitely. We celebrate, but soon enough, we need to set out after a new goal. We can’t sit at the table of success too long. Life has to have a deeper meaning. Because what you get will never make you happy. Who you become will.

Growth is one of the most extraordinary gifts of life. When you look at what makes people really feel alive, there are very few things that compete with growing and giving. You can’t give someone something that you don’t have. You can’t inspire others if you’re not inspired. You can’t move someone if you haven’t been moved. This is why we experience challenges in life. Every challenge that is ever brought to us has the ability to make us more. If you don’t grow consciously, life will show up and give you something to grow from.

In 2012, U.S. Army Master Sergeant Cedric King woke up from a coma in Afghanistan to discover that his legs had been amputated. Cedric experienced the ultimate uncertainty. He couldn’t control anything in his life, and he had to relearn all the basics. But he realized there was one thing he could control: his attitude. He says, “Ultimately I found that’s the only thing I really needed control over anyway, because that changes everything else.”

Today, eight years later, Cedric says if given the chance he’d do it all over again. You’ll hear his story of finding tremendous growth in tragedy by relinquishing control and expectations.

You’ll also hear from Richie Harkham, who had a devastating motorcycle accident that left him with years of pain and recovery. But this isn’t a story about Richie’s pain – it’s about how he used his own trauma to grow, and give to others. And his mission to give was all inspired by one boy, who gave him an incredible gift at a time when there was no end in sight.

Richie started a charity in honor of that young boy, making it his mission to build schools in developing nations. He never focused on his own pain. He knew that plenty of others in the world had it worse than him. Instead, he used his tragedy as a catalyst for personal growth, and a way to do good in the world.

You don’t need to experience a tragedy to embrace the gift of growth. Where are you not growing that you could be, this week? Is it your body, your relationship? Remember, life is progress, and growth is everything. You cannot give without growth – and if you’re not growing, you’re dying. Get started on your own path to growth today.

Find out more about the gift of growth here.