Grow Where You Are Planted

I've always loved that phrase. It guess it might have different meanings to people, but to me it means that no matter the circumstances, or where you are placed in life, you should make an attempt for growth and progress. Every situation is a learning opportunity. I've always believed that. The teacher side of me tries to instill that lesson in any person I encounter throughout life.

Korea has been full of opportunities for growth. But any situation where you are uprooted and moved 6000+ miles away from all you know is guaranteed to bring about growth. especially in these past few months, I've been learning a lot about myself.



Adapting to Korean wasn't a problem at all for me. The food, the culture, the climate- all of that stuff I knew that if I didn't like it, eventually I would get used to it. And I did. But some of the most difficult growing/adapting came within my own self.

Sure, I've got plenty of friends around here who speak English, but in a country where we are the minority, an English speaker finds a lot of free time to do thinking and contemplation. At least I have. There are plenty of things to distract me from this, but as of recently, I've chosen to no longer participate in those activities. This gives me more free time, and a more clear mind.

And I realized that when I moved here, I started going through a complete makeover, at least spiritually and mentally. Honestly, not all of it was good. It was waaaay to easy to fall into those activities which I had previously avoided and to adapt to the mindset of those around me. While I always condoned the Christian "bubble", I realize that back home, I was willingly living in it more than I wanted to admit.

It's easy to do the things you think are right when surrounded by a whole group of people doing the same thing. But to be plucked out of that fertile soil, and be transported to a new pot, on the other side of the garden (metaphorically, of course), that's a different story in itself. While you may tell yourself that the soil is just the same and you'll grow exactly in the same manner as before....you won't. It's a different situation, with different lighting, a different water source, and different sources for nutrition. If you try to grow exactly the same way, without adapting to your surroundings, you won't grow as strong as you can be.

Adapting doesn't just mean being able to accept the current situation. Adapting means being able to take the current circumstances, work them for your benefit, and actually become better from the situation. Anyone can move into a new point of their life and survive. But living and thriving are something completely different.

The growth hasn't been easy for me. I've had to learn that lesson about learning to grow differently. Because yes, at first I just expected for myself to stay the same way, despite the fact that everything around me was different. This thinking only served to get me into situations in which I didn't want to be. Because I wasn't growing when I first got here, so once I was faced with difficult situations of the new location, I had no defenses, no way to battle past them. Things are changing though, slowly but surely. I've come to see how I need to change, in many different aspects.

Spiritually, I had to take a time of re-focus, trying to go back to where I used to be in my relationship with God. Things aren't always perfect, but they are better than they were before. And I'm finally at a point where I can see myself growing in my faith again, instead of just remaining stagnant.

Mentally, I've had to change how I view those around me, and the situations that I'm put in. I realized that I was started to get easily frustrated again, which is a place I don't want to go back to. I dealt with my anger/frustration stuff already, I have no desire to repeat that part of my life. So my time of re-focus was also a time of shifting my viewpoint, and trying to be more flexible and accepting with things. This part of my life is still in major re-modeling.

Physically, I've decided that it's way past time for me to get healthy with what I do in my day-to-day. I want to be healthy in every aspect of my life. So along with a few friends, I've started training/working out, in order to get into better shape. We've also set a goal to run a 5k in October. It'll be hard, but I know I can do it.

Overall, I can see myself growing in many different aspects. It's a good feeling, to know that I'm growing again. It only took 8 months into my time here to realize it. :P It's ok, I've got another 16 months to continue working on that growth. (I'm renewing with my school, officially now).

So, yeah, grow where you are planted. Don't just survive, adapt and thrive.....and live.