Growing

We get new plants from all sorts of sources.  If they are lucky, we water them.
Generally they come in a pot and the amazing thing is how they respond to what they need.  We give them water and they grow.  It is not long before they need to come out of the pot they came in, and be planted in a bigger pot, or the ground.
Probably the same sort of thing happens to people (as long as they were not the plug and plant type).  Ok I am long in the tooth and growth is probably not as noticeable, but it happens.  Something young shoots up.  Something older and the growth can be imperceptible.  Just as well I grow I’d say, because they say you are either going forward or backwards but never standing still.
I was wondering how that could be. Can’t I just be treading water? I then saw that I could, but it was a bit like swimming to shore, and the tide is going out.  There may come a time I just tread water, but the reality is that with the tide going out I am being taken away from my destination.  The only way to get where I want to go is to get there.
That is an imperfect simile as sometimes treading water enables a person to rest and regain strength.  The principle stands for me though.  I need to keep going to get there.  There is no middle ground.  If I am not going forward, I am going backwards.
I do not think this is the same as getting the rest I need to recharge my batteries.  I think we all need that from time to time.  What matters to me, is that I get the rest I need within the framework of going somewhere.  I guess it is like driving to a far off destination.  To try to get there in one go would be ludicrous.   Driving tired is never a good idea.   I did it once and pulled over at a service station for a kip when the road started to look like a sailing boat to me.  I knew it was time.  A mate of mine fell asleep at the wheel on a highway and crashed his car (thankfully he was ok).
It is best I get the rest I need when I need it.  It is the safest way for myself and others.  It is not like I am getting rest in a void.  I am getting rest in the context of going somewhere.
I want to go forward.  I want to get somewhere.  Treading water or going backwards is not an option I choose.  But to get somewhere I guess I need to know where I am going and take reasonable steps to get there.  For me, it is the only way I can grow.