September 13, 2025- Reflection requires questions

“We favor the comfort of conviction over the discomfort of doubt,”

~Adam Grant

We shouldn’t win an award for standing our ground when our ground is too shaky to be stood upon. We wear our convictions like a crown, thinking that if we say something more loudly or repeatedly than someone who disagrees with us, that makes us more right.

We must make sure the power of our critical thought outweighs the power of our convictions. It should be more important to us that we are right than that we were right. We should give ourselves grace that we didn’t already know everything. We should give ourselves permission to change our minds.

Convictions can be comfortable, because we are not challenging ourselves to reconsider previous thought, and we are not exposing ourselves to change.

Doubt can be uncomfortable because it requires admission of our imperfection. And if we doubt one thing, do we have to doubt everything? Can we ever display security or confidence?

Reflection requires questions. We must constantly and eternally ask if our choices are bringing us nearer to the best version of ourselves. Growth requires these questions, too.