I sat with that for a while. Now, I hear these kinds of things...often. I get questions all the time about what "growth" is....how it looks and what it feels like when you finally have grown.
That's the stupid thing about growth. You really will not feel it. You really will not know that it's happening and most importantly/stupidly...you will not really know what you did to grow...most of the time.
You see growth is a process. It is a constant dance, a marathon, a long haul, it doesn't happen overnight, "insert more cliche statements here".
So how do you know when it occurs? When one day someone does something to you and you change the way you would normally react. You realize that you are responding versus reacting to them. You realize that you are taking the time to reflect on who you are in relation to your truth, your core and those around you. You notice yourself taking the stairs more, driving a different route, pushing harder at the gym...growth occurs in the subtle moments and grand gestures. It is something that demands constant attention and push. This is why you will not really feel it until you take the time to notice it.
Before I was in the Marine Corps I weighed a good 300 pounds. I was a big boy. After joining, running a million miles and losing weight I was down to 180. Yet when I looked in the mirror, I couldn't help but notice myself seemingly looking the same. I felt the same, I didn't see a thin guy...I saw me. It wasn't until I started noticing all the stretch lines and marks that I realized how much weight I had actually lost. For me, growth and change left stretch marks. My push and drive to be a marine resulted in a physical change leaving lines of my story.
I don't know if you can ever really "SEE" yourself growing and changing...mostly because we live in moments. When you live in moments, every second is therefore your chance to grow and change. Every second is a new opportunity for different, and every second leads you to the new you. Growth therefore isn't the end result, it is a collection of you with added moments of change.