Confession time…

I attempted to recap my year in the previous blog entry, and it was surprisingly quite challenging putting it together. I had set out to work on the post, thinking I would breeze through it, but that wasn’t the case. I struggled so much writing it and even considered ditching it at some point.

As I pondered on the matter, I realized that my difficulty in giving a concise report of my year stemmed from the fact that there seems to be a shortage of landmark achievements for me in 2021. Of course, I had a good number of wins here and there throughout the year. However, the only outstanding accolade I can point to is that I graduated college.

Another factor that probably contributed to the daunting task of summarizing my year is the vast disparity between my projections for the year when it began and the eventual receipts I have to show for them. If you read the post from last week, I mentioned that I fell short of my goals for the year by a long shot. It’s quite a huge margin between “to do” and “done”, and naturally, I am tempted to beat myself up over the “undone”, but I figured that would be of no help. Instead, I decided to look at things from another perspective.

Latent Growth

For context: Apparently, there’s a difference between “growth” and “development”. For the purpose of this discussion, however, “growth” here doesn’t only apply to physical increase but encompasses all aspects of personal development as we know it.

In Physics, we were introduced to the concept of “latent heat”. This term describes the heat energy absorbed or released by a body as it transits from one state of matter to another. For example, the energy expended when ice melts into water or water vapourizes into steam). The interesting thing about this concept is that while latent heat is in action, the temperature of the substance in question remains constant. So if you checked the thermometer right before latent heat kicks in and right after its work is done, the temperature reading would be the same, but the substance itself undergoes a transformation.

Oftentimes, we measure growth by evident progress – which is a valid yardstick. However, growth sometimes happens at a ‘latent’ level. Like with the physics illustration above, latent growth would often not translate to evident progress (or an increase in temperature), but it brings about a transformation within (change of state of matter) that subsequently leads to further progress. Back in February, I made a tweet that read: “The tricky thing about growth is that it is not seen in fragments… It manifests as a compound entity”. 10 months later, and that tweet can’t be any truer.

In many ways, I believe I experienced a lot of ‘latent growth’ in 2021. When I shifted my focus from how many goals I was able to strike off my list to how much I have grown, it didn’t take long to spot all the little fragments of growth brewing in latency.

Intentional Growth

As interesting as the idea of latent growth –or growth in general– might sound, it has to be intentional for it to be optimally effective. This is the part where I call myself out. I’ll admit that I probably didn’t fare so well in this aspect of growth this year. I cannot say I was so intentional about my growth this year. It was kinda all over the place. Going into 2022, I’m looking to pay attention to this.

I’m actually cautious about setting goals and projections for 2022 —it probably has something to do with previous experiences. But as I always say, one of the purposes of this space is to stay accountable to y’all. So I’m just going to put it out there — maybe it will help me commit to it.

Intentional growth is a deliberate process. A process that involves strategic moves to get better at things that matter to us. Emphasis on “strategic”. The process has to be properly thought out for it to be effective. It also requires adequate planning and execution that progressively adds up to the desired results.

I was having a conversation with a friend, and we somehow touched on our plans for 2022. In her words, “the goal is always growth”. I totally agree with her. In all your doings, seek growth, and in all your growing, be intentional about it.

Cheers to more growth!🥂

*****

PS: It’s the last Sunday in 2021… and the last blog post of the year. By God’s grace, I have successfully shown up here every Sunday in the year —yes, all 52 Sundays! It’s been such a ride.

Thank you to everyone who has been a part of the journey so far. Big thanks to those that keep on coming back to read my posts. Big thanks to those that stay commenting and sharing as well. Y’all make it worth the effort.
Let’s do this again in 2022!

Wishing you a blissful new year in advance!