Dumbass Sayings: “Grow As A Person”

Sometimes when you run into an old friend they tell you that they’ve been in therapy for the past few years and they’ve had some “breakthroughs” and they’ve really “grown as a person.” I always groan when I hear this because they’re using this term incorrectly. What they mean to say is they’ve grown as a “spiritual and emotional being.” And even that’s wrong, because growing is not a proper word to describe becoming more enlightened. Perhaps “maturation” or “gaining wisdom” would be more suitable terms. If you say you’ve “grown as a person” then you should be talking about your height and/or weight. If you see an old friend who’s put on a couple hundred pounds or so then you can say they’ve really grown as a person. But unless their body has enlarged in some form then they have not truly “grown” and certainly not “as a person.” As much as they think they’ve learned, they clearly haven’t expanded large enough to speak coherently yet.

Some of us grow a little too much as people, or as anything else for that matter.