If you’ve ever been around poultry long enough, you’ll notice something interesting and it is that chicks grow quickly.
In a few weeks, they change so rapidly, feathers, weight increase and the voice.
From a distance, it looks impressive but anyone who has worked closely with birds knows growth can be deceptive.
A bird can look big and still be fragile, it can gain weight and still lack strength in its bones because under pressure, weakness shows.
Most times, the issue is not growth itself, it is feeding, not just how much was given but what was given.
In poultry farming, feed is not random. There is starter feed for early development, grower feed for structure,layer feed for production and each stage requires something different.
Too much of the wrong nutrient distorts development and too little of what is needed creates deficiency that shows later. The effect is not always immediate but it will surface.
That principle unsettles me when I think about people because we are all feeding on something. From conversations to content to family expectations, social media, church culture, economic pressure etc.
Every day, something is shaping us. You cannot consistently consume comparison and expect peace, you cannot absorb bitterness and expect gentleness, you cannot live on outrage and expect stability. Intake becomes structure.
There is also the matter of speed. Some birds are raised for rapid growth, they get big fast on the surface, that looks like success.
However, rapid expansion does not always equal durability. I have seen people rise quickly and collapse quietly not because that’s how life is supposed to be but because of the structures on ground before the expansion.
Platform before character, visibility before depth, influence before formation. The world celebrates acceleration, it rarely checks foundation and that’s why many wants to *blow*. Growth that is not supported internally eventually strains itself.
Let me bring this closer to home, many of us were fed certain ideas early in life.
Endure everything, Keep quiet, Respect without question, carry the family and so many. Some of those values have strength in them, they build resilience and loyalty but when taken without balance, they create adults who struggle to say no. Adults who equate boundaries with disrespect, adults who give beyond capacity and then feel guilty for feeling tired.
If you were fed duty without self-awareness, you will grow into responsibility with resentment.
If you were fed silence, you will struggle with honest expression.
Feeding patterns become life patterns.
There is another layer that is harder to talk about. Some were physically provided for but emotionally undernourished.
School fees were paid, clothes were bought, food was present but affirmation was scarce. Safe conversation was rare and emotional presence was inconsistent. So we learned to perform.
We became competent, reliable and productive yet somewhere inside, there is a quiet hunger and when applause comes, it feels like food.
That is how some people become addicted to achievement, they are not chasing success, they are chasing nourishment.
At some point, though, you have to take responsibility for your own diet.
You cannot blame your upbringing forever if you now have access to new information. You can change what you consume, you can reduce noise, can choose wiser conversations, can read differently, can think more deeply and can seek help if needed.
It will not feel dramatic, there will be no announcement. Just small adjustments but small adjustments over time change structure.
Here is a question worth sitting with, If someone examined what you have been feeding on this year, what would it explain about you?
Would it explain your anxiety?
Your calm?
Your anger?
Your clarity?
Pressure does not create weakness, it reveals it and structure is built quietly, long before pressure arrives.
Reducing the noise did not change life overnight, it simply makes it steadier. Often times thank not, maturity is not adding more, it is filtering better.
Growth is not the only goal, strength matters. You can grow fast and still remain weak, you can look developed and still lack depth.
Feeding time may not look important from the outside but it is shaping everything. What you consume consistently is becoming you.
Choose carefully.
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