We all want to thrive, yet what that looks like for each of us is very different.
For some people it is striving for and reaching our life goals. For others it is having good, positive relationships. For yet others it is getting through the day with the feeling that we have been enough, done enough and not made too big a mess of things...
In the Cambridge English Dictionary thrive is defined as
"to grow, develop or be successful."
But even that leaves a lot for individual interpretation. Grow, how? Develop, what? Success?
Grow
Growth is a generic increase in size, in knowledge, in value or in importance. It happens everyday of our lives - regardless of what we do. It is inherent in our human nature. If we want to take charge of our own growth, we need to make a choice about how we want to grow... our fears? our strengths? our passions? our relationships? Our growth serves us when we align how we grow with our values and beliefs.
Develop
Development is a very specific type of growth - one that is targeted or aimed in one direction. You can develop particular skills and strategies towards an end goal, or a mindset that can make you more resilient. You can develop through focused learning or having a particular experience. Often what you develop within yourself is something that you have come back to again and again, either by choice or by circumstance. You take control of your own development by having goals and working towards them. Having a clear direction that you want your life to go in and taking a step along the path to getting there.
Success
Success is another story completely. Usually definitions about success include what you have already achieved, the destination rather than the journey. But thriving is about all the successes on the way, the steps towards that goal. Success is recognising that you took a step, celebrating it and looking at what the next step is. It is the acknowledgement of hope - not as a wishy washy future thing, but knowing in your soul that you are on a journey and that there are better things ahead.
So, whatever thriving means to you - whatever you want your life to look like, my wish for you is that you choose to grow in positive and beautiful ways, you develop skills and strategies that propel you towards those goals that give meaning to you and that you celebrate each step you take on your journey towards your best life.