Always Growing: This Life in Development

We are all growing beings. We start out really tiny, or relatively tiny at least. Not one of us started off life on this planet as a full-grown human.

We are all learning beings. As humans, we don’t grow only physically, but also our minds crave new information and understanding every day.

We are all meaning beings. At the end of our time here on earth, we want to look back and say our moments as a whole mattered. We might want to make a difference in the world, but we mostly want to make a difference in the lives of those few who are very closest to us.

In the coming months at heidigoehmann.com, we will take some time to intentionally look at how we grow and learn and make meaning in these 80 or 90 years we may have here together.

We’ll spend the next year around the theme - Always Growing: This Life in Development

By spending a year on the concept of development, it will help us get closer to:

identifying who we really want to be,

understanding who God has made us to be in His image,

and being a community that understands and supports one another a little bit better through every life stage.

Will you join me?

Here’s what our year of development will look like: 

Beginning in August, we’ll focus on one stage of development a month, using Eric Erickson’s Eight Stages of Development. This will be a useful framework for us to walk through the way God designed us to constantly grow as human beings. Erickson’s theory is used in classrooms and therapy rooms all over the world and offers a lot of insight. More importantly, it emphasizes the connections we need in order to grow, alongside the internal mind-body processes that help us grow. I think it will be valuable to also look more closely to see the hand of God and His connections in our lives through each of Erickson’s suggested phases.

Two articles

There will be one article each month with explanations for how we uniquely grow during that particular stage of our lifespan and another article with practical tips and ideas for how we might help ourselves or others we interact with grow during that phase of life. How can our homes and our faith communities adjust to provide what each person needs to develop well? It’s complicated, but it’s meaningful, and we’ll look at that together.

Two podcast episodes

There will also be two podcast episodes each month that will incorporate more information and ideas about each developmental stage. At least one podcast each month includes a special guest, so get ready for some fun conversations and lots of great takeaways.

Mental Health Monday

At least once each month, you can join me on the Heidi Goehmann Writes Facebook page for a Live discussion around a different developmental theory — cognitive development theory, moral development theory, cultural development theory, etc. These theories will inform the conversation, and help us uncover ways we can grow personally or help those around us grow. Mental Health Mondays aren’t about information alone. They will be a vibrant conversation about God’s intentions for human beings, diversity and individuality, and being the healthier versions of ourselves. There will be postings and graphics every Monday to make complex ideas easier to understand and apply. I won’t be the only expert in the room. We’ll have a special guest and you’ll be the expert on how it all applies in your life. We’ll be learning together. Subscribe to the Heidi Goehmann Writes YouTube Channel to get the video archives as they come out. You can find related short clips and graphics on my Instagram and Snapchat each Monday. Hear more about developmental theory and God’s design by tuning into the Coffee Hour on KFUO radio for Mental Health Monday episodes every Monday at 9 am CST.

Online Bible Study

We don’t want to forget one of the signatures around here. During the month of January, join us for a four-week online Bible study series around the theme “Always Growing.” We’ll work slowly through Psalm 139 to see the promises of God for us from the time before we were born until we take our last breath and into eternity. There will be a video with a special guest every week and four short devotional posts a week throughout the month of January. As always, the study is optional and you can do it on your own, invite a friend, or gather a group to discuss and grow together.

Here’s an outline to give you a better picture:

August: The First Year and Before the First Year – Trust and Dependence

September: Toddlerhood – Independence and Shame

October: Preschoolers and Kinders – Initiative and Leadership

November: Those Early School Years – Purpose and Inferiority

December: The Middle School and Teen Years – Identity and Confusion

January: Still with Me (Online Bible Study around Psalm 139)

February: Young Adulthood and Not-So-Young Adulthood – Friendship and Isolation

March: Middle Adulthood – Impact and Stagnation

April: Older Adulthood – Meaning and Legacy

God is at work in all of life’s stages and We are always growing because He is always growing us.

Our hearts, our minds, and our spirits each have their place in growing us and in growing our relationships. The beauty of learning is not necessarily in the result, although that’s an awesome part of it; rather the beauty of learning is in journeying to discover a little more and a little more and a little more of who I am and who He is in me. This intentional journeying is a gift for our mental health and we’ll see the impact on the relationships all around us.

Development: It’s a good place to journey, with a God who takes every step alongside us.

Come, discover, and grow with me.

See you right here in August.

Up Next – Join my husband Dave and I for a summer video and podcast series: Always Growing…in Marriage. There will be twenty, twelve-minute conversations with insights for growing together in marriage every day. Look for them every Tuesday and Thursday beginning May 26th. Subscribe to Heidi Goehmann Writes on Youtube or the Life in Relationship podcast wherever you get your podcasts or follow me on your favorite social media outlet to get alerts to new episodes.

In the Meantime – Look for me on social media until August, when I’ll see you back here!