How Personal Growth is Like Physical Therapy

I just completed four months of physical therapy for pain I’ve had in my neck that started causing numbness in my arm and hand. During those four months, I was very consistent about doing the prescribed exercises every day at home. And gradually the pain began to decrease and eventually stopped.

But lately the pain started flaring up again, waking me up at night and causing discomfort during the day. I felt so frustrated after doing all that work to be dealing with the pain again. I was quick to blame it on the physical therapy not working.

But then I checked in with myself. Have I been doing the exercises that I know I need to do to manage the pain? 

I hate to admit it, but I have been slacking off lately. I told myself it would be good enough if I did them every other day, or every few days. I believed somehow the issue would continue to get better on its own. Which, clearly, is not the case. In the absence of my accountability partner, the PT, I had stopped doing my work.

I couldn’t help but think how similar this process of physical therapy is to personal growth. They are both exercises that require commitment, repetition, and accountability.

And they both begin with pain. 

Pain is a signal from our brains that we have a problem that needs to be addressed. The pain might be physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual. 

Physical pain might indicate an injury to our body, but it can also be a messenger that we need to take better care of ourselves in the way we eat, exercise, or sleep. 

When my kids get a headache, the first thing I ask is how much water they had to drink. They’ve gotten so tired of me asking that, so now they start with “I drank water today and I still have a headache.” 

But seriously, dehydration can cause so many issues with our bodies. And drinking water can’t be just a one and done thing. It has to be done every day, all day, day after day. Same with nutrition, exercise, and sleep. They require commitment and repetition, and our bodies will hold us accountable.

Or we might have emotional pain. Maybe we’re experiencing conflict in a relationship, or we keep saying or doing the same thing over and over, reacting in ways we later regret. 

Changing our emotional patterns takes a lot of time and work - committing to therapy, coaching, or a recovery program requires commitment, repetition, and accountability to ourselves and others. And if we stop, the pain starts to come back.

With mental pain, we might find ourselves spiraling out in negative or destructive thoughts, numbing out to avoid our feelings, or disassociating from our bodies. And not only do we hurt ourselves, but we hurt others around us. 

Whatever the cause, the pain, suffering, and discomfort we experience in our lives are indicators that there is something going on that we need to pay attention to before it gets worse. 

Or we can ignore it. That is a choice too. But the pain and consequences of ignoring it will only get worse and worse over time. 

Growing and changing ourselves is not an easy process, and at times can be downright hard and painful. I know because I’ve been there. I’m still there. It’s not easy to face parts of ourselves that we’ve ignored and to commit to our personal growth.

Change doesn’t happen overnight. It requires daily practice and repetition, even when it feels hard and we want to give up. 

Personal growth takes time, willingness, repetition, and commitment to keep going….and keep going….and growing.

But you are SO worth the investment. We ALL are worth it. Because if we don’t do it for ourselves, no one will do it for us, and we will continue to suffer in pain. I don’t know about you, but I want to live that kind of life.

Unfortunately there’s no such thing as a pain-free life, but when we commit to our personal growth, our lives can, and will, improve. We will experience more freedom, clarity, happiness, fulfillment, peace and ease. And who doesn’t want that?

What pain are you experiencing in your life that you need to pay attention to? What is that pain telling you?

I would love to work with you on your journey of personal growth. Feel free to contact me to learn more!