BY ANDE DUNN for Weekly Volcano | April 2025
In both my personal life and my professional life, growth has been a constant. I’ve been encouraged to attend seminars and read books to keep getting better—better emotionally, physically, and professionally. Does reading all those books, listening to seminars, or attending conferences make me a self-help junkie? Maybe so, but I think there are worse things in the world.
In 2025, I have a goal to read or listen to 25 personal or business development books, and I always take away at least one golden nugget from each one.
As kids, our growth is physical and mental. We are told to eat healthy to grow big and strong. And then there comes a point when, as adults, we are expected to stop growing. There is an invisible line we cross where we are suddenly supposed to start shrinking. We shrink to fit into that dress. We shrink our personalities because they are too big. Health and wellness is one of the biggest industries in the world, yet it includes those shots designed to shrink us down to the size of models in photoshopped magazines. I hardly call that health or wellness.
What we, as a society, should be encouraging is continued growth—forever. There are always new hobbies and skills waiting to be explored. Constant learning keeps our brains elastic and helps prevent diseases like Alzheimer’s and dementia. It also helps grow other areas of our lives. Learning a new language might help you connect with someone, advance your career, or take you to an exotic destination. Learning a new skill or hobby could turn into a side hustle to fund the bigger life you want to live.
Shrinking—on any scale, except to achieve a healthy weight—goes against what we should be doing: living our biggest and best lives. When people encourage you to play small, it’s often a reflection of their own fears about living a big life.
But learning doesn’t have to cost money. You don’t have to go back to school and pay tuition to learn something new. There’s a library not too far away. Not a fan of reading? Download the library’s Libby app and borrow audiobooks on just about any subject you can think of. Even if you’re just interested in growing your EQ (emotional intelligence), there are plenty of books on the topic of being a better person in one way or another.
When we take time for personal growth, we challenge our comfort zones—just like we used to challenge the sizes of our T-shirts as kids. As we grow, the people around us will either rise to the occasion and grow with us, or they will choose to stay small in their own world.
But when we choose to grow together, the world automatically becomes a better place.
