Big Fish in a Small Pond, Need a Bigger Pond

We all have those moments in life where we out grow something. It starts in childhood when we move from bottles to sippy cups, then from mega blocks to legos, from youth size clothes to adult sized, or back seat to the front seat of a car. We all went through these transitions or something similar to them.

But when we got out of high school we all grew very differently. Some started work. Some started college. Some might have went into the military. We began to be a small fish in a big pond.

As we traversed through these life events, some of us became a big fish in that small pond. We went to work, took a job, and just stayed there. We stopped growing. Our clothes didn’t change. Our meals didn’t change. Our jobs didn’t change. We became stuck, like a big fish in a small pond. We never were able to find a bigger pond to grow in.

This is how we feel sometimes. We spent our whole life growing and changing. We moved up grades level. We could see the transitions in our life by hitting mile stones. But one day we just stopped. Our milestones became the milestones for our children. We stopped growing to help them grow.

I think that’s noble and great as that is what we should do. But we also need to grow and level up ourselves. We need to take another step out into the world and get more experience or meet new people. We need to expand our horizons so we can expand our children’s horizons.

When we meet new people our children will also meet their kids. Schools are great at this but what is there beyond that? That’s the question I am trying to answer. My oldest started preschool and he’s meeting all sorts of new children to play with. We need to expand ourselves, too. Go to networking events. Go to community meetings. Check with work and take a travel day to a trade show.

I know we are all afraid of doing our children a disservice by being gone but traveling every once in a while or going on a trip with a few buddies helps us to re-calibrate as well as giving our kids a chance, too. I know I enjoy spending a weekend away everyone in a while camping with my friends to help me get my mind right. It allows to think about them and find ways I can do better when I have peace and clarity.

That’s all part of finding a bigger pond. Finding ways to expand ourselves to be the best version we can be. I know when I get “stuck”, I get grumpy. Grumpy me is not the best me.

Find a bigger pond. Grow. Be prosperous.

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