Tag Archives: growth mindset

Embrace Growth: My Word of the Year for 2025

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Welcome back to another episode of me having no idea what to write about but doing it anyway. I suppose it is time to share with you my word of the year. After all, it’s already pretty much the middle of January and it’s time to start living it out. In case you’re new here, the last few years, instead of making resolutions and plans to change or transform my life into something I am not, I have chosen a #wordoftheyear. It’s a way of making broad, all encompassing goals based on more of a “theme” than a strict hard and fast rule. And so, I have chosen to try again this year.

I thought a little about it over the holidays and wondered what we could plan for this year. Physically, the garden was on the top of the list. We cleared our garden spot and tried last year, but after a two week vacation… weeds took over and our garden plot was reduced to a far gone experiment that utterly failed in my brain, and was not to be resurrected for the rest of the season. We got a few pumpkins, but as any homesteader will tell you, pumpkins can grow in the manure heap with little help. Plant pumpkins in the garden of life. Trust me.

Trust me…plant pumpkins!
Photo by James Wheeler on Pexels.com

Along with the garden thoughts, I feel my personal growth has settled a bit over the last year and a half of being here in our new community. We’ve settled at a new church, the youngest has begun to make some real friends at school, and we are feeling a bit more connected to our surroundings. We can tell you where some of the cool places are to eat and officially can maneuver a few of the “back roads”. We know our space and some of the needs required to flourish here (or at least survive). I’ve had a few employment opportunities and learned some stuff. Our house chores are still on going but we have “moved in”.

We were blessed with our new grand baby and have entered in to that new stage. (EEK!) Friends are starting to travel more and work less and we are beginning to peek at what retirement might look like — okay maybe not retirement, but slowing down and easing into a slower place, less focused on work and more on building legacy and mentorship of the next generation. A few more aches and pains come along with that role. And learning to listen to your limitations has been… challenging.

And so, as I reflect and muse about how we have moved forward in the past year, I look toward 2025 with flourishing in mind. Therefore, my word for 2025 is “GROWTH”. Perhaps a bit common as far as #wordsoftheyears go, but it’s how I feel God will work in us this year. We have settled. We’ve been planted… and now it’s time to grow where we’ve been planted. I’ve been Brave and tried to Refresh and Renew. We failed at making Magic, so it’s time to sit still, be slow, reach for the sun and GROW.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

You all know what a promoter of forever learning I am…and so Growth seems to be a logical place to start. Seeds have been sown here. It’s time to see some green pop up around those little seeds. I’m not sure we are at the fruit stage yet, but growth is a reasonable goal, don’t you think? Our new grandson will make 100 firsts this year. He will grow. My chick birds have matured into adults and my passion for the pets hasn’t stopped growing… I still want to learn and discover (think baby goats and that new garden!) I want to plan a gallery wall for the house and landscape the pond. The family is maturing and we are moving to empty nest status most of the summers. The hubby and I are moving back to “just us” and learning to juggle that all over again. (I must say the reduced grocery bill is a nice perk, though, with no teenagers to feed all summer!)

Spiritually, growing in Christ is an ongoing goal. At least it should be. I continue to reflect on God’s handy work in nature… I seem to be seeing more sunrises than sunsets these days, so my perspective is changing from party city to country rooster calls (I can’t believe it! I refuse to be a “morning person” I refuse to be a morning person, I refuse to be a morning person….) Perhaps God will grant me new mercies every morning, and I will heed them as growth. Seeds that were planted will grow. I look forward to how God will work in 2025 under the umbrella of my word of the year.

Are you ready to join me on the next adventure? Are you planning on following along in the ups and downs and crazy thoughts in my brain that get posted here on a (relatively) weekly basis? Let’s grow together, friends…Let’s grow together…

Still Learning

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Whew! It has been a busy week! Everything just seems to take a little longer these days. I think we are still in survival mode… even though it’s been almost a year since we moved out here to the country. I can’t believe how time has flown! So many changes, so much to learn. Learning. It’s what I’ve been musing about this week. If any of you have been with me since the beginning, you’ll know that mittonmusings.com was born out of a desire to continue learning… to understand how posts, blogging and all that jazz works. I can say that I have, indeed, learned a lot over the years. We created landing pages, contests, social media platforms, and many of you followed along during 30 Days of Blessings. That was fun!

I can honestly say that moving to a new town also had some learning curves. For one, everything closes so early here. We have adjusted our schedule to get shopping done, and meet the school bus at the very early morning pick up. Let me tell you, for us nighthawks, that first week of classes was tough! Yet, here we are at the end of the school year, and I can barely sleep in on weekends now! (I refuse to be a morning person, I refuse to be a morning person, I refuse to be a morning person…) Learning to have the hubby working from home and juggling our time together with less kids hanging around has been an adjustment. Simply knowing where to store stuff in a new house is sometimes a challenge! So much change. Not to say that change is bad. In fact, I think learning to change, adapt and grow is vital to life. You need it. Even if it’s hard — it’s important.

Often, that change is a struggle. Like the old song says, you can’t go over it and you can’t go under it. Sometimes, you just have to go through it to learn. You trudge along, make mistakes, get messy and manage with some trial and error. When we had our kids, they didn’t come with instruction manuals. We just had to learn. Then the next kid came along and all the rules changed. We had to learn what worked for that child. We were crazy enough to do it four times, each with a new set of adventures to learn! Even when the chicks arrived… I read, researched and tried to study… but I am still googling things and watching videos! Did you know that chickens must “learn” to roost at night? I just got back from putting them to “bed” and they were all huddled in the corner. I tried lifting them up one by one on the roosting bars… but a chicken’s brain is little. It’s going to take some practice. We shall keep learning together.

Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com (not my ladies, but roosting!)

Humans have been learning together for years. Some of us are better at it than others. Our youngest had to do a year end project on a person or people who have “changed the world” as we know it because they did something. I wonder if any major changes have happened recently that future generations will do school projects on. Covid-19 world-wide pandemic anyone? I’m not much of a history buff, but time has a way of creating learning curves for the human race… whether we like it or not. It’s all part of God’s plan!

I was struck recently about the disciples and the early church believers and their misunderstandings. We know “it was all part of God’s plan” — but the early church had to go through it. How many times do we hear Jesus saying they just didn’t get it? Not that His parables were so cut and dry, mind you. Can we blame a few fisherman who see and hear things they could never have imagined and expect them to fully understand what was happening? Who would believe that such a great leader and teacher would allow His own arrest and crucifixion? And for it to all be part of the plan?! I am convinced it was a difficult learning curve for the followers to comprehend. Good grief! It’s hard for us to understand and we have it all laid out for us in black and white! Still, we continue to learn.

What about you, my friend? Are you in a season of real learning? Perhaps, you are the one teaching and getting frustrated with your students. Be patient. It takes time for some of us to “get it”. Often we have to struggle through it. Some of us have to be taught it over and over. Others just seem to have the gift of easy understanding. Nevertheless, we all must keep learning. Learning and growing and changing and adapting. It’s the way the Potter needs to shape the clay. It’s the way the vine and the branches get pruned and new growth starts. Fruit blooms from the new growth when our attentions are snipped and focused. Sometimes, we have to be taught to roost and rest at night. We need to be shown how to relax and not huddle in a corner. Yes, my beloveds, life is learning. Let’s share the journey together, shall we? We’ll meet back here again soon!

Photo by Akosua Gabriel on Pexels.com

A Season of Growth

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Back when school was actually in, and I was musing about if homework was actually necessary, (Ha! Little did I know!) there was a lot of talk about this idea of “growth mindset” among educators and how it influences our students and how they learn. I suppose, it really is how we all learn. In case you have no idea what I am talking about, here is the general idea:

A growth mindset, proposed by Stanford professor Carol Dweck in her book Mindset, describes people who believe that their success depends on time and effort. People with a growth mindset feel their skills and intelligence can be improved with effort and persistence. They embrace challenges, persist through obstacles, learn from criticism and seek out inspiration in others’ success.

Those who hold a growth mindset believe that they can get better at something by dedication of time, effort and energy. Working on one’s flaws, and the process—not the outcome—are the  most important components. With time and practice, people with a growth mindset believe they can achieve what they want. The opposite of a growth mindset is a fixed mindset.

From: https://tophat.com/glossary/g/growth-mindset/

There is some confuddled methodologies and thought processes surrounding this whole idea — but it is what I have been musing about this week. “Growth”. I’ve been thinking about literal growth — changes you can physically see, as well as the more mystical, unseen growth, that we all do as people when faced with situations like this global pandemic we are all experiencing right now. Three weeks in, and people are starting to talk about the consequences. I’m curious to see how this will change us. Will it change us for the better? Or will we revolt and protest? Only time will tell. Speaking of time; it is finally starting to be “spring-like” around here and, like I have said so many times before, time has a way of moving forward… worldwide pandemic or not. The buds are starting to show up on the trees. We have started our little seeds and the kids have cleaned up the backyard garden (hurray for quarantine — we are ahead this year!) and we are dreaming about fresh veggies! We also fostered some baby ducklings for 3 weeks — which was definitely a growth project! Those tiny things grew fast! I’m not sure I am cut out for farming — as much as this city girl dreams about it, (constantly) it would certainly take some “growing” on my part. Perhaps these cuties will be a topic for a future muse.

Our baby ducklings went from this — to this — in only 3 short weeks!!

Which brings me back to my muse. I think growth is a unique entity. We have “growth spurts” and we have long, slow, lengthy times of maturing that seemingly takes forever. It’s hard to see growth in those times. We think that nothing new is happening. Like a young tween waiting to get curves or the first facial hair. Often, those are times of renewal and recovery (or perhaps discovery?) — so that all the conditions are right for good growth. It’s been a month of ups and downs for the Mitton crew during lockdown 2020. I get excited about a new project or homeschool, and just as quickly get sad and frustrated. Some days I dream big, and other days I can’t seem to get moving at all. They tell me that’s normal. It seems we are in a season of growth.

So as I navigate this time, I’ve been encouraged by the words of Lamentations 3. Verses 22 and 23 are the most famous, of course, and the most uplifting when it comes to sparking Hope and Encouragement:

But it is interesting to note that the full chapter is a lament. It’s not that encouraging. It’s full of despair and depression. Then the writer comes to the realization of God’s ancient idea of a growth mindset. Each morning is a new day. And God’s love is faithful. It’s a process, with ebbs and flows of good and bad. A journey with a goal, where success is measured by time, effort and persistence. And failure is part of the process.

So, what about you all? Are you feeling stuck in the lament? Are you wallowing in the darkness of unemployment, uncertainty or just simple boredom? Tomorrow is a new day. Filled with new doses of mercy, light and hope from a God whose faithfulness is timeless. May you be encouraged, my friend, by the journey itself. Your successes will be achieved through time, effort and tiny steps forward. Oh… I am certainly not there either. My mind dreams big, but the flesh is weak, and laziness, to be truthful, is a whole lot easier. Share me some love, okay? Post a thought, some encouragement, or something you’re doing to make this season of “slow growth” helpful for all of us! I love to hear your comments.

Want some ideas for some things to do during your “slow growth” time at home? Check out these posts: How to Stay Motivated Brag Tags DinoSaurs or browse through my old muses like the Colouring Party!