{"id":1089,"date":"2012-12-27T15:17:30","date_gmt":"2012-12-27T15:17:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chadstutzman.net\/?p=1089"},"modified":"2012-12-27T15:17:30","modified_gmt":"2012-12-27T15:17:30","slug":"7-distractions-that-keep-us-from-growing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/?p=1089","title":{"rendered":"7 Distractions That Keep Us From Growing"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Most of us would agree that there are areas of our lives that are not where we want them to be.\u00a0 It might be a marriage relationship that has deteriorated or maybe a relationship with a son or daughter or parent that is unhealthy.\u00a0 Maybe we are not where we want to be in our professional lives.\u00a0 For some it could be emotional health, hurts from our past that are causing problems in our present lives.\u00a0 Many of us struggle to be where we want to be spiritually as well.\u00a0 So what holds us back from growing in these important areas of our lives?\u00a0 Why do so many people simple remain the same and maintain the status quo instead of growing and changing?<\/p>\n

Here are some of the distractions that keep us from growing:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Busyness – <\/strong>Being consumed in a rat-race to keep up and get things done does not allow us the margin to think deeply and focus on the important things. We keep adding things to our lives without stopping other things, so the list just gets bigger and longer.<\/li>\n
  2. Comforts – <\/strong>Most people look for and desire comfort and when they find it they become trapped by it.\u00a0 Getting out of our comfort zone becomes more difficult the longer we stay there.<\/li>\n
  3. Too Many Options – <\/strong>Today there are so many opportunities to learn and grow and change that we can sometime be confused by the wide range of options and opportunities.\u00a0 When we have too many options, we often choose nothing.\u00a0 This can also lead us to simply be busy because we choose to do too much.<\/li>\n
  4. Insecurity – <\/strong>If we don’t really know who we are, how can we know what we are suited to do or where we should go.<\/li>\n
  5. The Past –\u00a0<\/strong>Issues not dealt with will hold us back, and this is often expressed through fear.\u00a0 Fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of being misunderstood, fear of being inadequate and hundreds of other fears.\u00a0 These fears pop up every time we experience something that connects us to our past hurts.<\/li>\n
  6. Laziness – <\/strong>This is often what keeps us in our comfort zone.<\/li>\n
  7. Secret Sin – <\/strong>This dulls our senses and blocks our ability to enjoy healthy emotions and relationships.\u00a0 It keeps us from the vision that God has for our lives and keeps us stuck in darkness and slaves to sin.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    One or more of these may be keeping you from growing and making progress in certain areas of your life.\u00a0 In order to move forward it takes a decision to face these things head on by first acknowledging the problem and then developing a plan to make a change.<\/p>\n

    I love to spend time planning this time of year.\u00a0 It is a great time to evaluate where we are at in all the important areas of our lives.\u00a0 If there is an area we are not happy with, we can begin to focus on how to make a change in that area.\u00a0 It might mean getting help from someone that has been through what you are dealing with or taking a risk to try something new or different.\u00a0 The important thing is to acknowledge that you do not want to remain the same and that you desire to grow.\u00a0 Then start praying and asking God to help make this happen.\u00a0 A year from now will you be the same person you are today or will you be in a new place spiritually, emotionally, physically, relationally and financially?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Most of us would agree that there are areas of our lives that are not where we want them to be.\u00a0 It might be a marriage relationship that has deteriorated or maybe a relationship with a son or daughter or parent that is unhealthy.\u00a0 Maybe we are not where we want to be in our … <\/p>\n

    Continue reading “7 Distractions That Keep Us From Growing”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6,8,10,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-emotional-health","category-life-change","category-marriage","category-personal-growth","category-spiritual-growth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1089\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}