Endless Pursuit Of Growth Can Be Toxic, And Here Is My Take

To pursue growth is always noted as a good thing - to always better ourselves and enable ourselves to improve our versions. In this journey of endless growth, we constantly challenge present norms and attempt to one-up either ourselves or others, which would also help us to attract greater work & business opportunities.

The famous movie in 2006, The Pursuit of Happyness taught us that it is not the destination but rather the journey that keeps us fulfilled and help us achieve our life’s purpose - but this truly begs the question, when do we truly relax and smell the roses that we have planted in the pursuit of endless growth?

This is especially for friends who work in first world Asian countries, whereby growth and productivity is highly valued - more so than our personal well being at times, and all those extensive work hours along with all the unhealthy habits we accumulate throughout our career, slowly eats away our inner wellbeing inside out.

The inability to slow down, unwind and enjoy the fruits of our labour - is often the by-product of present society’s machinations to propel us to seek endless growth (& attain greater level of success), and that is the reason why this is a toxic program for us.

It is not wrong to value growth and to constantly ensure that we push boundaries, but we need to know our reasons for pursuing these growth and take time to prioritise our personal happiness - and that sometimes could mean putting time aside for our loved ones to have a meal, catch a movie, join a Yoga class or even pick up a new language - something that enables us to enjoy the very present moment.

For me, I have always pursued growth and am a self-declared workaholic for over 9 years - and though I might not be the most experienced person, but in my working experience wise - in the mindless & endless pursuit of growth, I have almost at times forget that I am not just merely a growth seeking robot - I’m also a human being that needs to relax, recharge & savour the moments of being fully present (& be happy to do nothing at times too).

In fact, for a marketing practitioner like myself, the need to constantly improve and keep up-to-date with the latest social media marketing updates as well as the constantly evolving trends of the various digital algorithms has always kept me on my toes - and that meant endless nights of working overtime, which definitely took a toll of my personal wellbeing - it made me dread my work (which is one of my passions) at times, and ricochetted me into several dark moments of deep-seated burn out mode.

All these collective episodes have taught me the value of finding a balance and taking time off from pursuing growth single-mindedly, but also to block out periods for personal relaxations & spending time with our loved ones to recharge our “batteries”.

In fact for myself, I even forced myself to take a mandatory 2 days leave in order to fully unwind when Staycations in Singapore opened up, and enjoyed an interesting hotel homestay experience - thanks to the hospitality of LYF Funan and it certainly helped me a great deal (which partially inspired this post too).

Remember that nobody but ourselves are truly responsible for our well-being, and let us not allow a wonderful notion to pursue growth, become toxic to ourselves & impede our actual route to achieving greater success.

I hope this article served to be an illuminating piece, and wishing all of you the best - see y’all soon!