Recently, our Editor-in-Chief encouraged me to write an article similar to Green, which I wrote last year. This is my follow up to that article to satisfy her “real sweet spot for those simple articles that touch on what life is like day-to-day here”. 

Bradford Reszel, 134 TESS

“Look how big you’ve gotten,” “Wow, you’ve grown so much,” “It is impressive how much you’ve grown”. These phrases spoken by loving grandparents or house-plant-owners to their respective loved ones are typically about physical growth. We also talk about personal growth in non-physical ways – from intellect to maturity to the experiences that bring about new perspectives. Typically, we define growth in terms of cycles.  These cycles are part of human nature, our volition powerless in their wake. Our individual efforts may give them different speeds, and their obstacles may be of different strengths, but, sure enough, people around the world grow everyday all the same.  

However, I would like to challenge this cyclical assumption. I believe personal effort and intention can shape one’s growth independent of ‘natural cycles’. I contend that one can grow, on an internal and personal level, without time determining our fate.  I believe one can grow subconsciously and then have their growth burst into consciousness with an “ah ha!” moment. We see this throughout human existence with  epiphanies and exclamations of “eureka!”. 

In the Peace Corps, and specifically here in Thailand, time moves at a different pace. “Long days, short weeks,” I often say here, while knowing that time is running out. I’ve attempted to facilitate my own growth by actively participating in the community, reading, figuring out public transportation and more. I’ve had my share of “ah ha” moments,  suddenly realizing that I’ve been growing without knowing. 

A small, but powerful “ah ha” moment was when I recognized how much heat affects my effort. I have read about this, considered it, but never understood it until one weekend day, while sitting in the 100+ degree heat, my energy was zapped and I got nothing done . I observed heat’s ability to diminish my effort. It’s real. It made me fully realize what it’s like for people who face extreme temperatures. It was a growing experience, broadening my understanding of the world.

I write this to give readers, and myself, a reminder of Peace Corps’s value for the Volunteers. Experiencing life the way others from around the world live it, on a day to day basis for two years, generates growth – regardless of how much we know it at the time. Subconscious growth builds with every step, every experience, every day and there will surely be more “ah ha’s” in the days, months, weeks and years to come both during our time as Volunteers and as Returned Peace Corps Volunteers back in the United States.

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Read Bradford’s previous articles and contributions.