Spiky development is a term used by teachers and trainers. We expect to make progress in a variety of areas at the same pace. If we saw development like a circle around us we would expect it to stay a round circle. The reality is that it becomes a spiky circle.
We learn one thing more thoroughly than another so making progress in that area faster. We can be presented with a range of ideas and pick up one and run with it but sort of forget about the others.
I could not resist using this image of a construction worker to demonstrate the idea that we are a work in progress. We are under construction. Not perfect by any means but on the way.
There are some areas where this idea of being provided for is well developed. The last 3 times I have had a problem with my car I could tell a story about how although there was a problem it was solved relatively. easily.
There was the windscreen wiper that broke while on errands locally before driving the best part of 200 miles later that day. Amazingly I managed to get it fixed within 400 yards of it breaking, despite the fact that not all garages stock windscreen wipers that fit my car. The spring that broke a few feet from home. The time when the engine stopped while I was driving and would not start again. It made a funny noise and I saw a somewhere to pull in and steered into it. It was only afterwards that I realised that it had completely cut on me making the whole thing less frightening. The recovery driver said how did you manage to stop in such a good place. I can easily pull in front of you to winch your car up on my lorry and we are both out of the traffic.
That’s the easy bit. The hard bit is being content with what I have. For example, it took me a quite a while to find the two images that I used to create the one you can see here. The reason? I have bought so many image packs. The people who sell image packs say you need this so that you always know you have enough images. then you get so many that you cannot find the one you want. So you spend hours searching for the right one of organising the ones you have so that you can find what you want when you want it.
It is not that I buy everything that is presented to me, far from it. But there are so many opportunities to buy that kind of stuff. A lot of it is priced temptingly low so you don’t really feel the pain when you buy it. The cost of a meal out and you have 1000s more images on your hard drive. Of course, the sellers say the more you have the less likely you will be to use the same image as someone else.
On the other hand, it is easy for you to collect duplicates as well. The thing is that there are a limited number of image creators and they sell the rights to sell their creations to more than one person. It then becomes possible for you to be asked to buy the same image collection from more than one person.
It gets to the point where I look at horror at the hundreds of thousands of images stored on my hard drive and say, Lord, where do I find the one that I need. There again last time I bought a collection it took over 24 hours to download all the pieces of it because of my slow internet speed.
Filling in the valleys between the spikes
Every so often I look in horror at the consequences of my fear of not having the right thing available when I need it. I have just been sorting out my kitchen and I have exactly the same problem there. Cupboards overflowing with stuff just in case I need it.
The issue becomes will I need it in the future or not. Not only that but is the cost of having it now too high e.g. storage space, time taken keeping things organised. As I write this, this is my current personal development challenge.
I have not long since moved home and I am working out what things to keep and then where to put them. What is worse because of the circumstances around the move a lot of stuff was packed by others and then put in store for 3 years. Once it has come out of store the things that were organised to some extent are now woefully disorganised and those that were disorganised are still disorganised. Some things had to be replaced during that time so are now duplicated. Some things are more about where I have been than where I am going so need to be left behind.
The challenge has another dimension as well. I love the feel good factor of being able to draw from the resources I already have to meet a particular need. In other words, to have met a need before I know I have it. If a light bulb goes I love the idea of having a spare so I can change it there and then rather than waiting until the shops open to buy a replacement.
One of the crazy things was that many of my spare light bulbs accidentally found their way into store which has niggled me for those 3 years. When I eventually find them they will be outdated as they were mostly those curled up fluorescent tubes rather than the halogen or led lights that are popular today. There again some of them will fit the light fittings I left behind but not the ones that I have now.
A growth opportunity (yuck)
This whole moving scenario is a chance to grow in an area where I have been weak. I don’t like it. Growing is not comfortable. It is necessary I know but I don’t want to do it. I would be happier staying under-developed.
Yet I need to do something as at the moment I have boxes and bags of stuff to unpack everywhere apart from the bathroom! It is one of those times when things just catch up with you and you don’t have any alternative but to do something. Well I have reached that point and there is a lot of practical and spiritual work to do in terms of undoing past purchasing choices and dealing with the consequences of those choices.
You see many women, including God’s Lily, would like to become more like superwoman. This is one of my growth areas. The thing is we are all growing. If we are honest we all have under-developed areas. We don’t like admitting them to ourselves or others. Others can see them. The family members who have been teasing me certainly can!
Do you have any growth opportunities that you would be willing to share? Do you also have the mixed feelings of its good to grow but disliking the discomfort involved?
P.S. I was about the click the publishing button and realised what my next task was. To look for a spare light bulb. There is now enough natural light to be able to see what I am doing while replacing the bulb on the top of the stairs