“I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.” - Pablo Picasso
The word 'stretch' can take on many different definitions depending on its context: stretch towards a goal; stretch the truth; stretch your muscles. Unrealistic expectations can be called 'a bit of a stretch.' We can be stretched too thin, or we can be on the homestretch. A stretch can be a prison sentence, or it can mean to defeat an opponent. While all of these meanings may seem different, they share a common theme. To stretch is to extend beyond the previously set limits, to redefine what is possible, and, in doing so, learn something new.
In the field of educational psychology there is a concept called the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), which was first described by Lev Vygotsky in the early 1900s. According to this model, learning (development), occurs in the areas (zones) that are closest (proximal) to what the student already knows. Much like a baby cannot be expected to run without crawling first, a child cannot be expected to learn advanced skills without mastering more basic ones. Furthermore, the zone is limited to the set of new skills that a child can do with the help of instruction, but cannot do alone. While ZPD was originally applied to the school setting, it can be stretched quite accurately to adult learning as well.
Most children have an obsession with experimentation. They are called to explore their environment in great detail. The act of play (which children love) is all about finding the boundaries of their physical and imaginative worlds. Kids play best when a supportive and caring adult is present. Ideally, this arbiter not only keeps them from seriously harming themselves, but engages with them to teach them systems for remembering new information. Teachers need to allow enough freedom for their students to process what they are learning, while also providing just enough challenge to engage them but not stymie their effort. The balance between structure and liberty, between what is and what could be, between safety and danger, is constantly being redefined as children grow older.
As children age, the external structure around their learning diminishes, while their abilities and autonomy expand. By the time they enter adulthood, if discipline and conscientiousness has not been internalized, then they will require a higher degree of external structure to remain balanced, but not too much, or it will have the opposite effect. Helicopter parents harm their children because they stop building the new scaffolding that will continue to accentuate their children's independence. Conversely, neglectful parents harm their children by failing to build any scaffolding whatsoever. Ironically, both lead to stunted development.
For adults, it is unbelievably easy to get locked into narrower and narrower ways of living, moving, and thinking. If we are don't keep a regular practice of stretching--our bodies, our minds, and our spirits--then we can easily become inflexible, judgmental, and dogmatic. Thus, we also become less adaptive to disruptions in our environment and less resilient to hardships. If we choose to remain deep in our zone of comfort, then we will never reach our zone of proximal development. But how do we combat the tendency to seek comfort, which is what we are wired to do evolutionarily?
We must first voluntarily embrace discomfort, and progressively adapt to it. Let's use stretching as tangible example. There are untold benefits to having full range of motion in all of our joints. However, most Westernized adults have lost range in all but the few positions that they regularly put themselves in, which is mainly sitting, walking, and lying down. They have lost the ability to squat, to lift things over their head, and raise their legs higher than a 45 degree angle. Absurdly high rates of musculoskeletal pain and orthopedic surgeries in the US is a testament to this fact.
In order to regain the range that we once possessed as children, we need to put ourselves in positions that stretch us a past our current acceptable range for a minute or longer at a time, for a total period of time that is not insignificant (20-40 minutes per session). It has to feel like work, because that's what it is. You are challenging the tissue in order to make it adapt. And, it must be done several times a week, for the rest of your life. While this may sound daunting, the first step is always the same. Start where you are at and then try a little bit more. The consequences of not doing so are far worse.
The second necessity for development is to find a teacher or system of instruction that can challenge you. As a social species, humans learn from each other, and in doing so we are able to create brand new combinations of innovation that would not have been possible alone. Human ingenuity is cumulative. We push each other to higher and higher levels of excellence. If there is something that you want to accomplish, chances are that someone out there has done it already, or at least gotten extremely close. Those are the people you need to seek out and learn from and in doing so you may exceed all previous high marks yourself. You will find that it is not the world of possibility that is being stretched, but you who is doing the stretching instead.
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