We explore the idea that real love gives you space to breathe—not shrink. If you’ve ever felt suffocated in connection or lost yourself trying to be enough, this reflection will help you redefine love, set healthier boundaries, and honor your personal growth.
Dr. Jessica Green is a licensed therapist, a clinical supervisor and a CE provider for the great state of South Carolina. We are going to focus on again, personal growth, but realizing the focus of real love and what it means.
Michelle Williams: Real love gives you that time to breathe and gives you a time to grow. She says as we grow, our emotional needs tend to shift and the most meaningful relationships tend to grow with us. Williams: When we support each other, we can't do anything else but soar.
Good morning, Cadre world. And it is Wednesday, 10:30 Eastern Standard Time. And today we are going to focus on personal growth. But then I want to focus on us untangling personal growth through rule of and what it looks like. So as some others begin to chime in, I am going to share a little bit about myself for those who may be joining us for the first time. My name is Dr. Jessica Green and I am a licensed therapist, a clinical supervisor and a CE provider for the great state of South Carolina.
Good morning, Michelle. Good morning, Speak Wonder. So happy to have you joining us this wonderful Wednesday. And I'm taking those words from one of my closest friends and we are going to focus on again, personal growth, but realizing the focus of real love and what it means. So just as Speak Wonder did, if you can share with me while we're having some others chime in, where are you from? You know, what great state are you located in? And I am in South Carolina and the weather is a little gloomy and it is really hot.
So for some of us, we try to stay inside and just relish on that great, wonderful air that we have blowing in our offices and or homes or even in our vehicles. Yes, Michelle, it is wonderful Wednesday. And Speak Wonder, you're in South Carolina as well, which is, which is life coaches here actually. I'm so sorry, where you're actually in PA in Yuri. So today again we're going to talk about personal growth, but in the sense of recognizing real love and also recognizing too real love gives you that time to breathe and gives you that time to grow in regards to personal growth.
So sometimes when we talk about personal growth in real love, we have to unpack some of those knots, you know, maybe that thinking process and maybe those relationships that we build, but then also us being able to focus on our self worth. So today, in this moment, before we start discussing this, I want you to take that deep breath, you know, I want you to take that deep breath in and then I want you to exhale because I want you to realize that love feels like breathing, but not in that sense of suffocation where we feel like we cannot breathe.
So whether we're in a romantic relationship, whether we're in a friendship where love has felt with us, I want you to think about a moment where you felt as if that love was pressured rather than peace and not shrinking yourself for other people so we can fit in. Because sometimes in relationships we do that. We know our worth, we know our value, and sometimes that other individual does not recognize it. So when they don't recognize, we have to realize that real love for us is not about possession.
It's not about control, and it doesn't ask you to change your identity for that connection. Sometimes we lower our standards and we lose our identity to have that connection, not being able to recognize your worth and recognize your value. And if we're talking about real love and personal growth, real love gives you that space to breathe. Not where we're breathing with a fast pace, where we feel like we're hyperventilating, but we have that peaceful breathing. It also recognizes the fact that we have the opportunity to do a couple of things.
The opportunity to be us, the opportunity to grow, the opportunity to evolve. And recognizing, I don't need to clip my wings. I want those individuals to be able to witness my flight, being able to move to that next level, move towards that personal growth, recognizing healthy love so we can continue to be our authentic self. So as we grow, our emotional needs tend to shift and the most meaningful relationships tend to grow with us. Before we talked about, in a couple of content sessions, before, we talked about our ability to sometimes outgrow people, outgrow places, and outgrow things.
So when we think about the most meaningful relationships grow with us, we have to be able to recognize, hey, what are those friendships that are allowing me to be my authentic self and being able to get the best of you. And when we think about growth, sometimes it's going to be setting those boundaries. When we have those individuals who call us and say, oh, my gosh, girl, let me tell you what happened in that moment. They didn't ask about us, how we were doing, how we were feeling, how our day was going.
They just called us to share information. So being able to set boundaries with individuals, recognizing, hey, when we communicate, am I having that sense of feeling drained? You know, we all have those friends where we feel fatigued. You know, we see them calling us, we're like, oh, my gosh, here we go again. That's not a healthy relationship. And then there was a relationship. Hey, if we talk on the phone, we give it that time limit. Okay, I'm going to stay on the phone with this person for three minutes and then I have to go, because is this person allow me to have that sense of personal growth?
Is this person allowing me to go on this flight, or are they clipping my wings? So there are three takeaways that I want you to think about when we focus on personal growth. The first, I want you to check that vibe. Does the connection feel safe and. And then we feel like, hey, we can move forward to the next level. Or does it feel heavy and closed in? You know, just like if, you know, we go to a restaurant or we go to a gathering, we're going in there, we're checking the vibe to see, see what's going on.
Do I stay or do I leave? And that's the same thing we have to do with relationships, with love, when we focus on personal growth. The second thing is speak up for space. Your needs are not a burden. And love that respects you will make room for your voice, so you will be heard. So make sure you are speaking up for your flight, for in your space. Absolutely, Michelle. Don't allow anyone to clip your wings, but allow us to fly. And we support each other. And when we support each other, we can't do anything else but soar.
So definitely, Michelle. And the third thing is redefine love. Real love supports your growth. They support your boundaries, and they also support your freedom. So anything else isn't love. It may be that individual, that person, place or thing wanting that sense of control over you. So make sure we are defining, redefining that love. Is this love something.
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