A Simple Guide To Protecting Our Growth Light

Your growth light won’t always be at full strength, and that’s okay.

Imagine you’re a tiny plant, minding your business and reaching for the sunshine. Imagine you’ve got a single, beaming “growth light” hovering just above your leaf tips—a light designed specifically for your personal growth.

This light is both magical and scientific: it gives you energy, insight, and the occasional cosmic nudge. However, much like Wi-Fi in a crowded coffee shop, this growth light can flicker, dim, or just drop out when you need it most.

So, how do we protect it?


Step 1: Get Rid of Shade-Casters

Growth light’s greatest enemies are shade-casters: the energy vampires who seem bent on blocking your light with their perpetual clouds of negativity. These people say things like, “You’re going to start a business? In THIS economy?” or “Oh, you’re finally working on your book? Cool. It’s a tough market, you know.”

Here’s a little trick for handling them: imagine their negativity as a faint buzz, like a mosquito in the room. You can acknowledge it without letting it ruin your night. Politely decline their invitation to join their darkness club.

Instead, give them a gentle smile, a kind nod, and a mentally whispered, “No, thanks.” Consider putting a small invisible fence around your growth light for these shade-casters. It’ll keep you basking in the glow, undisturbed by their shadowy presence.

Step 2: Regularly Clean the Lampshade

Our growth lights can get grimy over time, covered in dust from unresolved issues, endless to-do lists, and more random worries than cats on the internet.

To keep your light clean and clear, try a little regular “mental housekeeping.” This might be meditation, journaling, or just muttering “Ctrl+Alt+Delete” under your breath as you walk around the block.

If you’re not into meditation (or can’t sit still for 10 seconds without plotting your next snack), try a light-hearted way of cleaning the mental lampshade: doodle your worries on a piece of paper and toss them in the trash, or imagine yourself holding a tiny Swiffer to dust off your mind. This way, your growth light has a clear path with zero smudges or clutter in the way.

Be not afraid of growing slowly; be afraid only of standing still.

Step 3: Surround Yourself with Reflectors

You know who’s great at making your growth light shine even brighter? Reflectors!

These are the people in your life who bounce back positivity and amplify your inner glow. Reflectors don’t try to steal the light for themselves; they bask in it with you, encouraging you to grow. They might say things like, “Your idea is awesome!” or “Can I help you with that goal?” or “I love what you’re doing, and I brought snacks.”

If you haven’t found your tribe yet, start by being a reflector yourself. Celebrate other people’s growth lights! Comment on their wins, support their dreams, and soon enough, you’ll start attracting other reflectors who will shine their light back on you, keeping that growth light burning twice as bright.

Step 4: Upgrade the Bulb

Sometimes, your growth light doesn’t need protection as much as it requires an upgrade.

Are you trying to grow with an old, flickering 40-watt bulb when what you really need is a dazzling LED spotlight? Upgrade! Trying new things is a powerful way to turn up the brightness. Think of it as hitting “refresh” on your whole system.

Sign up for that class, pick up a weird hobby (woodcarving? Thai cooking? Interpretive dance?), or learn to say “hello” in 10 languages. Every time you try something new, you give your light a little extra wattage boost. Plus, if things get awkward, you get a free life lesson (or a great party story), practically the same as a “life hack.”

Step 5: Protect Your Light with Boundaries

The strongest growth lights have a secret weapon: boundaries. Just like you’d put a protective cover over a delicate lamp, good boundaries shield your growth light from overzealous expectations, distractions, and the pressure to please everyone.

Setting boundaries doesn’t have to be scary. Imagine you’re a bouncer at your own private growth club. You get to decide who comes in, who goes out, and who stands in line outside waiting indefinitely. You can kindly tell stress, “Sorry, capacity is full tonight,” or let Imposter Syndrome know it’s on the guest list, not the VIP list. Boundaries give you the space to keep your light shining, no matter how many guests try to crash your growth party.

“Stay afraid, but do it anyway. What’s important is the action. You don’t have to wait to be confident. Just do it, and eventually, the confidence will follow.” - Carrie Fisher

Lastly, the best way to protect your growth light is by remembering to keep it fun. Nothing dampens a glow faster than taking things way too seriously. Don’t forget to celebrate every small victory!

Have you got through a Monday without muttering under your breath? Victory! Did you resist the urge to scroll through 93 Instagram reels when you should have been working on your project? Boom! Another win.

A little celebration—whether it’s a solo dance, a high-five to yourself in the mirror, or a sparkly sticker in your notebook—keeps the light from feeling like an obligation and turns it into something you actually look forward to nurturing. Joy is the secret battery pack for a bright, resilient growth light.

Growth is rarely a straight line; it’s like a dance, complete with stumbles, twirls, and occasional falls. So when the light dims a little, don’t panic! Embrace it as a natural ebb in the flow of growth. Even the brightest stars have moments when they seem to flicker.