Do you remember being a little kid and either while you were playing with your friends or sitting on the couch watching tv your legs started aching, bothering, and hurting you? You didn’t know what was happening, so you told your parents or an adult about it. Usually, they would tell you it’s just growing pains reassuring you that it happens to everyone, it’s common, and normal, it just means that you are getting bigger and older. Eventually, the pains would subside and go away.

Growing pains are typically associated with experiencing physical symptoms. However, what if I told you growing pains are also the ups and downs we experience throughout life. Your journey of growth is unique and centered around you. Someone’s pains and experiences might be similar to yours, however how they heal, grow, and learn from the pain is a part of their individual quest towards blossoming and healing. Growing pains could be considered as the little moments you experience throughout your day, possibly doing bad on a test, your favorite restaurant being closed on a day you didn’t want to cook, or missing the winning basket during your basketball game. Growing pains could be also seen as bigger life events such as, getting fired from your job, getting broken up with, things not turning out the way you wanted them to. Growing pains are considered as anything that makes you sad, disappointed, angry, frustrated, annoyed, depressed, anxious, uneasy, scared, lost, hopeless, etc. There isn’t a specific category as to what is considered a “growing pain”. Even though your favorite restaurant is closed on the day you really needed it, you might feel disappointed and annoyed, but in that moment, you start to problem solve, coming up with other restaurants to go to for dinner, maybe even trying one you always wanted to try but always forgot about. Getting broken up with is heartbreaking and upsetting, possibly stirring up other emotions such as anger, confusion, feeling lost, hopeless, lonely, and depressed. However, maybe for some people this is a part of their journey to find themselves and become independent, others may use this time to do things they never got to do while in a relationship, or maybe some will become closer to family and friends. What I am trying to say here is the pain in the moment seems daunting, annoying, unbearable at times, and difficult, but once you get through it, looking back you will see the growth from the pain.

Growing pains happen to everyone. We start experiencing them physically as a child but also mentally and emotionally. During childhood, that’s when our brains are developing and absorbing information the most. It is the planted seed for our growth, and as we age it starts to create roots which become the foundation for how we respond, process, learn, and grow. Without acknowledging the pains of our past and present, we will all be blind to the flourishing we have made in those hard times.

Most of us tend to focus on the painful, annoying, frustrating, negative aspects of life. It is difficult for us to take a step back and consciously be aware of the growth we have made in those moments. However, being able to talk to someone, expressing your feelings, healing old wounds, and planting new seeds, brings conscious awareness towards your personalized garden of growth. Mental health services such as speaking to a therapist is just one way you can bring acknowledgement to the growing pains you have experienced and currently experience, to then hopefully help shift your mindset into understanding that growing pains happen, we have to experience the ups and downs in life in order for new lessons to be learned. Our pain helps build who we are, who we become, how we behave, and how we react. Each painful moment allows us to build our character, becoming stronger, resilient, braver, and more confident, it just depends on how you view it.