This is How You Grow

A while ago, my fitness trainer was helping me with strength training exercises. Afterwards, I asked her,

“How can I maximize my results on the elliptical machine?”

She told me to select the interval training setting—alternating between 3 minutes at a steady pace and 2 minutes of higher intensity.

I asked, “How high should I go with the intensity?”

Without blinking, she smiled and said,

“Until you feel like you're hating life.”

I laughed nervously and admitted, “I kind of have a challenge with exercising that way. It’s just so uncomfortable.”

She smiled again and replied confidently:

“Yes. And that’s how you grow.”

That line stuck with me. Because it doesn’t just apply to working out—it applies to life.

If we could avoid challenges, most of us would. Who wants discomfort, pain, or emotional resistance?

But challenges show up anyway. And sometimes, we really do feel like we’re hating life.

Yet the physical world reflects the spiritual world. Just as our muscles need resistance to strengthen and thrive, so does our soul.

Growth rarely happens in comfort. It happens in the struggle. In the stretch. In the “I don’t like this” moments we’d never choose—but that transform us from the inside out.

So if you’re in a hard season right now…

Keep going.

Keep breathing.

Keep growing.

Your soul is doing its own kind of interval training.

And instead of wasting the opportunity through resistance, blame, or resentment, try asking:

What is this challenge here to cultivate in me?

Is it patience?

Endurance?

Resilience?

Wisdom?

Maybe all of the above?

Whatever it is—get working on it.

You WILL see results.

Guaranteed.