Rooting For Growth with Fiona DaCosta

To my blog subscribers, “Thank You”. Encouraging you week after week via email – with growth tips have inspired me to extend this “Sunday email” to a full blog post on how I caught up with the Law after two years. I know many others will benefit from at least one lesson here.

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Growing Pains And Growing Gains

In this post, there will be extensive focus on GROWTH. Personal Growth in particular. You will see a personal story come to life, as we explore Growing Pains and Growing Gains.

If you are new to Rooting For Growth, let me fill you in quickly. On this site, Personal Growth is the order of the day. I am committed to helping others realize, actualize and utilize their growing potential. I want to help people globally, to keep unlocking the next level of their potential.

You can read more about me here. As you will realize, I study Law and aspire to become an attorney – protecting and defending people’s rights.

Notably, in 2019, what was to be my final year of study (at the substantive level), became a year when I did not study at all – for Law that is. This was due to the fact that I had to take a Leave of Absence from my studies. This Leave was on financial grounds.

As part of the University policies, failing to clear outstanding (owing) tuition balances from the previous year, meant that I could not enroll for the upcoming year (which was to be my last).

Frankly, this was a Growing Pain. For the first time in my life, I wasn’t able to go to school. And you know what? This is the reality for hundreds of students. Either not being able to pursue higher education at all, or having to pause and in some cases stop altogether – because of financial challenges. Some students have even completed the courses and not allowed to sit exams because they have outstanding fees!

Growing Pains are hard. Some, may crumble under the weight. Or get demotivated.

However, there are lessons to be learnt from them, and boy did I learn a whole lot! If you pay keen attention in times when you experience setbacks, you’ll realize how much you can learn.

You Are Bigger than Your Setback

First things first, a set -back does not define you. Your comeback does. But before that comeback, there’s a lot that needs to happen. Let’s start with intentional growth.

Ideally, growth is a composition of many contrasting things. Setbacks and comebacks. Failures and successes. Rainy days and clear skies. You get the gist.

I highly recommend having a growth mindset to help you with intentional growth On many occasions here, I have expressed the benefits and necessity of intentional growth. This ultimately means that you DO NOT SIT AROUND WAITING FOR GROWTH TO HAPPEN. That’s what accidental growers do.

As a result of that, they procrastinate, hope for a big break and just sit around doing nothing about the setback.

I don’t mean to be harsh. But I mean to be real.

AFTER My Leave of Absence From Studying Law…

When I realized I wasn’t able to come up with all the money I needed to enroll for my third year, I had to accept the fact that I would be out of school for that academic year.

What was I going to do now? Sit around? Wallow in self pity? ABSOLUTELY NOT.

Certainly, some doors shut and we feel bad about those closed doors. Still, there are many more open doors leading to new halls. Chances are, they may even provide a route to the door that was shut – or in my case, lead you further than the the first door would!

So, we are back at intentional growth. I had to do something with my time. Something worthwhile. Something that would enable me to experience GROWING GAINS.

Headed off To the Corporate World

Like many persons do in situations like this, they find a job – with the aim of earning to finance their way back to school. In my case, I went to college!

Yes! During my Leave of Absence form my studies, I went to college! How does that add up you might ask? Especially since I didn’t have any money.

Story goes, I accepted an offer posted by a recruiter and went in for an interview. I was qualified as a candidate fit for the opportunity. Before you know it, I was signing contracts to start working. The good thing was, this opportunity was not just a job. It was a career. A sales career in the Insurance Industry and a learn on the job atmosphere.

Furthermore, I had a supportive team. The company trained us and I was pleasantly surprised I that I needed a license to operate in my capacity, and attending a college for insurance was a prerequisite.

Truly, I was blessed to have the managers I had. My college and exam fees came from a paycheck I didn’t even get yet! Talk about new doors opening up as a result of the decision to grow, regardless of setbacks.

Out of University, Into College

To keep the facts brief and the lessons major, I attended classes, did readings, sat exams and subsequently got licensed to do insurance business by the Financial Service Commission.

Now, I was not only a student of law on a leave of absence, but a trained and licensed career woman in the insurance industry.

Certainly, the opportunity for growth is ever present. It is up to YOU to be intentional about growing. You will not always have the perfect situations nor the perfect plan B.

Regardless of this, your reaction and mindset will be deciding factors of your growth.

Obstacles Are A Part of Life

Admittedly, I do not always look forward to obstacles. What I do, is cultivate a mindset to deal with them and stay close to people who help me do the same.

Additionally, I keep exploring and practicing ways to sync my goals with my growth.

As you can deduce form the post’s title, what was intended to be one year of a Leave of Absence, turned into two. Was I neglecting the goal of attaining my Law degree? No.

Simply put, our timings for successes and breakthroughs are not always the perfect timings for successes and breakthroughs.

However, the intentional work you put in – in the meantime surely adds up. I loved the pace of my growth journey and my mindset to actually grow.

Insurance Career Woman and Legal Secretary

It is important to remember something I said earlier. Some doors shut and others open, taking us further than the halls the first doors were made up of.

Stop limiting yourself to the door that was shut on you. You have the ability and the potential to go and grow where other doors lead. Especially, when you can’t force open an already closed door. Don’t just stand there, go learn and grow. Be intentional about growing. Try something. Excuse yourself from comfort zones and waiting around.

Nothing happened as a result of luck. As a matter of fact, I pushed myself past perceived limitations and kept grounded.

In this instance, I was delighted to get an opportunity reserved mostly for students far advanced in their legal studies or for persons pursuing that career. And although I experienced growing pains, I far exceeded the lessons I hoped to learn in this capacity.

I grew professionally, mentally, legally and of course, my personal growth accelerated.

To add, who wouldn’t want to sit with lawyers, learn from them, get insights of the field and of course… Grow?

I am NOT Self Made

Frankly, I am not of the view that I accomplished my GROWING GAINS all by myself. Nor did I get over my GROWING PAINS alone.

In part 3 of my review of The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth, it is clear that the Law of Contribution played a major role. I highly recommend that you read this book or my review of it.

The Law of Contributionin this sense, refers to those who have been instrumental on my growth journey. It maintains that, growing yourself enables others to grow. The people who have been instrumental on my growth journey has undoubtedly experienced growth in their own lives and set backs too!

They have learnt and grown.

Resultantly, being around them, listening to them, benefiting from their contributions – have enabled me to grow.

To flip it now, I hope to be a river and not a reservoir. A river flows and shares its water but a reservoir keeps its water to itself.

Through Rooting For Growth with Fiona DaCosta, I hope to contribute to the lives of others as they too keep growing.

Catching Up With The Law

Fortunately, stories have plot twists to them and that’s what makes them all the more interesting. If you stick around long enough – you’ll come to learn of the twists and turns of this story and grow inspired by every plot.

Fast forward to 2021, I am back in University to complete my studies and read for my Bachelor of Laws Degree (LLB). Two years later, I catch up with the Law and I couldn’t be more proud of myself for how I handled my setbacks.

Additionally, I want to emphasize that the actual days leading up to today were not as smooth as my writing may order them to seem. The progression to “catching up with the Law”, was an ultimate test of patience, adaptability, intention to grow, actions of growth, believing in myself and staying close to people who also believe in – and support me.

The latter is of key importance and you will see why in other posts that will supplement this one.

Rooting For Growth will Support You. If you intentionally allow it to. Join our community today!

Growing Pains Are Just As Important As Growing Gains

Therefore, My main aim in sharing all this with you, is to help you acknowledge- that no one really ever has it ALL together. Believe that.

To add, when life presents obstacles, struggles and challenges on your path, you may be tempted to go low and neglect to grow. Avoid doing that.

Surely, you are encouraged to be honest with yourself and your emotions. Pause and reflect but do not stop and omit to grow.

As a matter of fact, it is in times of challenges that we are presented with the most opportunities to grow. Seek them out. Be intentional about it. And whatever struggles you face, keep rooting for growth.

You Got this!

Intention To Help

I’m leaving this little note here to remind myself (I read my posts too, and learn from them!) of my intention to help students in the future who may have had similar faiths. Or even worse ones.

As I read for my degree, I do so not only for myself, family and the people cheering me on – I also do so, to help other students, of all ages and walks of life to be able to go to school and finish school. And impact themselves and the world positively with that education.

A student somewhere, probably not even born yet, is depending on me.

So help me God.