Did you Budget for Personal Growth This Year?
Algebra is easy. This work isn’t.
We were reviewing her 2025 year.
Her personal development. Her learnings.
The moments she stayed when it would have been easier to move on.
And then it arrived — that quiet swell of emotion.
The kind where tears come, not from pain, but from recognition.
She could feel her own growth.
My client looked at me, with tears and laughter in her eyes, and said:
“Algebra is easy. This work isn’t.”
We laughed.
We both felt the depth of what she had just named.
And YET— we expect effort to live in certain places.
School. Work.
Things with structure and "right answers".
But personal growth asks something else entirely.
It asks you to stay with questions that don’t resolve quickly.
To sit with discomfort without reaching for explanation or blame.
In my ten years as a therapist and coach, one thing has become clear:
Most people don’t actually want to work on themselves.
They want relief.
They want solutions.
They want to know who or what did this to them.
And often, that story is real.
A person hurt you.
A system failed you.
An institution shaped you in ways that were unfair.
None of that is imagined.
But at some point, the work shifts. Blame stops moving you forward — even if it once kept you safe.
And then you’re left with a harder question:
What will you do, knowing what you know?
This is where many people leave.
Not because they’re incapable — but because staying asks you to hold complexity without escape.
To feel anger without letting it harden you.
To grieve without turning away.
To choose yourself without certainty.
For n’betweeners, this work matters deeply.
When you’ve spent your life navigating multiple worlds, you often become skilled at understanding why.
At naming context. At explaining.
But understanding the WHY does not lead to transformation.
Transformation requires presence. Time.
And a willingness to stay when there are no formulas.
And yet — look at how we value things.
We budget for education. For credentials. For tools that promise efficiency.
But personal growth often gets whatever is left.
So as 2026 begins, here’s the question I want to leave you with:
Did you budget for personal growth this year?
Not as an intention.
But as a commitment — to staying with yourself in the moments that matter most.
That’s the kind of growth mindset that changes things.
If this resonates and you find yourself wanting to stay with these questions a little longer, you can book a consultation with me here — or forward this to someone who might need it.
Sending you a hug,
Nora