Freedom to Choose Growth

Article by Dr. Megan Vaughan, SLPD, CBIS

Working with overwhelm or suboptimal functioning – beyond the “stretch” or growth zone requires you to acknowledge and address intense emotions and stress. Stress and emotion can stem from many situations. In special operations, these situations may even seem unthinkable or unbelievable. Avoiding emotional or physical pain wouldn’t be a problem if we did it once or twice a year; but for most of us, it’s a deeply ingrained habit. The habit of avoiding or pushing off the pain becomes a safe space called the “comfort zone.”

Comfort zones feel safe and comfortable but they really keep your life small if you are staying in that zone to avoid pain. Sometimes the only way forward is through, but this can be done skillfully. “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom,” wrote Victor Frankl. 

Here are 3 steps you can take toward inner freedom.