Golf and Growth

Last night, I learned that I am not the greatest at golf. I had two people who play regularly trying to help me, but everything I did felt so unnatural because I had never done it before, and honestly, I had no idea what I was doing.

Have you ever found yourself in a place where you’re trying to do something new, but it just feels unnatural? That’s what a lot of people experience when they’re trying to change things in their life. It feels different to make better decisions, to make healthy decisions. It feels out of your element to choose a healthy relationship over a toxic one, to identify good things over bad things, or to respond differently than you always have before.

There are so many ways that we train our brains to live in trauma cycles and survival responses. And a lot of the things we call “comfort zones” are really just familiar patterns. They’re not actually comfortable. They’re just what we know. So we stay there because it feels safer than stepping into something unfamiliar.

But real change happens when you get out of that cycle and you try new things anyway. Even when it feels awkward. Even when you feel clumsy in the beginning.

I might not be naturally good at golf. It definitely felt that way last night. But I also know that if I keep trying, keep practicing, and keep pushing through the discomfort and awkwardness of those beginning steps, I could probably become really good at it. Maybe even amazing.

And I think that applies to life too.

I think all of us have the capacity to do wonderful things with the life we’ve been given and the things we truly want to pursue. I think a lot of times we’re just held back by our own limiting beliefs because we get stuck in cycles of what we think is normal. We convince ourselves that familiar means right, even when it’s hurting us.

You don’t have to be naturally good at something for it to change your life. Growth is rarely graceful in the beginning, but that doesn’t make it any less necessary.