Growing Out

It seems to be the opinion of some that the process of growing older must be linked with the process of growing up. I disagree. I think growing up is a process many of us can avoid for the majority of our lives. Instead of growing up, we spend our time growing out. That's what I have spent a lot of my time doing.

I have grown out of so many things over the past few months and years. I've grown out of so many of my clothes, or perhaps I should say, shrunk out of them. My style has also changed. I care less about what I look like and more about how I feel. I'm beginning to grow out of my music bubble and it feels good. It's nice to not be completely consumed by just one part of my life. I'm growing out of some of the books I used to read. They just don't have the power to hold my attention for very long. Very few things have the power to hold my attention anymore.

There are things I want to grow out of such as my fear of committment and my incredible ability to make plans for the future. Or I suppose, my inability to let go of the plans I have made for the future. I am getting there. Every day I get to let go of a little bit more of the things I cling to. I can grow out of the things I once hung onto with all of my strength and I feel so much better because of it. I'm not really growing up, because I still feel the same way I did two years ago. I've just grown out and tried so many more things. And there is no way I would want to go back.

We tend to see the process of growing up as a part of getting older. As nice and simple as that can be, that makes life seem so linear. And that makes growth so restricting. When we are willing to attempt to grow out, to try new experiences and see how far they can take us, it is only then that we really get the chance to grow up. By growing out.

We can take the chance to branch out, to try something that we haven't before and that is when we really get to grow. When we only expand the things we have already tried, we don't really get to grow. We don't get the chance to change. We leave somethings behind when we grow out, but it also gives us the chance to grow up and become who we really want to be. This is a chance I'm beginning to be willing to take.