growing vs. escaping

welcome to introspection ft. harsehaj! ⭐️ i’m harsehaj, a 19 y/o always up to something in social good x tech.

this publication is a place for me to reflect on productivity, health and tech, and drop unique opportunities in the space right to your inbox daily. if you’re new here, sign up to tune in!💌

scroll to the end for my daily roundup on unique opportunities!

onto today’s topic: growing vs. escaping 🌱 

have you truly grown, or have you just escaped the triggers?

this is a question i ask myself extremely often. after all, i experienced the most “growth” in my life over the past year and a half. however, this time was also the most rapidly changing of my life. so, did i actually grow, or was i just set away from the environments that are a perfect recipe for my bad habits?

growth certainly comes from unique experiences — i’d even go as far as arguing that adapting and learning in new environments is the only way to really trigger growth. the crucial part is sustaining that growth to your “regular life” as well.

i’m a pretty analytical person so just feeling like i have grown doesn’t feel sufficient. i want to map out different experience of me in high school vs. now like a case study and observe the tangible differences, but i didn’t document my life 3 years ago like i do now. 🫠 

i wrote a lengthy reflection on how it felt like the growth i achieved slipped from my hands at the beginning of my first semester at unc chapel hill, but powering through that with positivity was true growth. being home over winter break was a good determinant of this learning. my temper was significantly calmer, i felt more relaxed/confident in myself, and i carried out my tasks with efficiency and conviction. 

in escaping trials and tribulations, you won’t find triumph. it’s okay to escape and seek clarity; however, it’s just as important to return and overcome the initial obstacles with those newfound insights. i use my completion of this cycle as a checkbox for my growth. 📈 

daily opportunity + resource drops 🔍️