Growthful with Suhur
Suhur shares why being growthful is a defining value for her academic goals, ambitions, and religious life.
[00:00:08] [Ellen] Welcome to the voices of young people podcast brought to you by springtide research Institute. In each episode, we hear directly from young people as they respond to our research and share about the issues impacting their lives. As sociologists and researchers, we see a new story unfolding for young people. One that moves beyond traditional institutional boundaries and requires careful attention to the inner and outer lives of emerging generations at the intersection of being and becoming it’s the voices of young people, those seniors or residents that I care for are very vulnerable. And they, they basically have no toys, but to just like be vulnerable with us. And they do that. Like we grow and they grow at the same time.
[00:01:00] [Josh] Hey, everybody, welcome to season two of the voices of young people podcast. I’m your host, dr. Josh Packard, executive director at spring tide research Institute and at spring tide, you know, as you’ve been listening along through, through all these, you know, that what we really care about are the, the, the values and the lives of 13 to 25 year olds. And so often people have assumptions or ideas or stereotypes about what young people care about and what is really meaningful to them. But, but we’ve dug into actually listening to them and doing some research around those things. We’ve written this book called meaning-making eight values that drive America’s newest generations. And one of those values is the importance of being grateful that young people always want to be associated with embedded in inside of organizations that allow them to grow and flourish and help us understand that a little bit more. We’ve got some hard today. That’s gonna, that’s gonna talk with us about how this value shows up in her life. So her thank you for being here and maybe give the audience a little bit of a sense of who you are.
[00:01:58] [Suhur] Thank you for having me, Josh. My name is Suhur. I’m 22 years of age. I currently live in Minnesota. I’m from Colorado. I’m a Karen mini university of Minnesota graduate. I work as a CNA and I’m hoping to get my master’s in nursing as a registered nurse.
[00:02:21] [Speaker 1] Wow. So, but, and you also are working. Yes. Yup. So balancing school and, and a job. How, how long will, I don’t know much about this process? How long will it take until you’re a nurse? Are you already a nurse? You’re just trying to become a different kind of,
[00:02:36] [Speaker 0] No, I’m becoming a nurse. So there is a program in my school and a couple of other universities around the state that offer master’s of nursing for undergraduates that don’t have mass that don’t have a bachelor’s degree in nursing field. So yeah, it’s like an accelerated program for nurses, but you get your master’s and bachelor’s in one,
[00:03:00] [Speaker 1] Ah, that sounds like a very smart idea. Get them in one go. I spent way too long in school. I should’ve done that. What, what drew you to this field to nursing?
[00:03:12] [Speaker 0] Well, nursing is one of those I’m very practical at the same time caring professions, and I’ve always had a place in my heart to care for people, but also like advocate advocate for health equity at the same time and some other personal experiences and family experiences that led me to this decision of becoming a nurse.
[00:03:40] [Speaker 1] Well, it’s a, I’m glad you’re doing it. We obviously need nurses right now. We were talking in the middle of a pandemic. We obviously need nurses now more than maybe we ever have in recent memory. Anyway. So we’re talking about growth fall. And you know, you’re obviously in the midst of a stage of life where I think a lot of people who are listening would have experienced a lot of growth themselves, but, but you’re also actively pursuing it as you’re taking accelerated programs. And we just off air before, before we started recording, we were talking about potentially you studying abroad, which, you know, there’s obviously all kinds of new experiences that come from that. Why, you know, why is this value of being grateful so important to you? And I mean, you could just, you know, you could just go for the bare minimum or, you know, get by with what you’ve already accomplished or already know. Why are you always interested in going for more?
[00:04:30] [Speaker 0] Well, growthful is basically one of those values. That’s like ongoing in your life, whether you’re an adult or a teenager, it doesn’t, it doesn’t matter. Like what age group you are. It’s like one of those developmental practices that keeps molding your personality and your career in, in different aspects of your life. So that’s why it’s very important to me. Like, just looking back when I was high school in high school, as a teenager compared to now as a college graduate, I’m not the same person and that’s, that’s all due to growth value.
[00:05:11] [Speaker 1] What do you think that that same sort of trajectory do you anticipate that that will continue? You know, I think the old sort of model was that like, Oh, sure, you go to college, you grow and you sort of become who you are and that you are that person, you get a job, you stay there for 40 years. But like there isn’t much change after that, but you’re are you suggesting, like you think that that’s going to think growth trajectory is going to stay?
[00:05:32] [Speaker 0] I think it it’s like those, one of those things that are ongoing, ongoing, and like there’s no stopping to it. Whether you’re like I’m a senior at a nursing home or like a baby you’re still learning something. So it might be very minor or major. It just depends on the person and like where they are in their life and like the situation they’re in.
[00:05:58] [Speaker 1] But I think there’s something going on about your generation actually that leans into this more than, than maybe others have where, you know, I, I think I hear like a lot of my friends are people who are older than me. They’ll talk about a growthful experience as something that was not necessarily wanted, you know, like maybe they got fired from their job and they say, well, I grew a lot because of it or, you know, a tragedy that happens in their life and they talk about growth. But what I hear when I hear from you and what we see in the data from younger people, your peers is that like, they’re desiring that always like, there’s this like growthful, isn’t the aberration, it’s the norm. You know? And in fact, when, when we did the survey, I was just looking, I’m just looking over here at the data, 45% of the people that we surveyed said that they would consider working for less pay if the workplace supported their growth learning and professional development that they’re, you know, like it’s that important to them? Yes. Tell me about why it holds such a high position in terms of these values for you and for maybe some of your peers.
[00:07:00] [Speaker 0] Yeah. For example, like consider as like institutes, just as the university of Minnesota, you’re paying to go to the university of Minnesota. They’re not paying you, but you’re still doing that because you’re gaining something in return, which is a bachelor’s degree in master’s. It doesn’t matter what degree, but something that’s going to increase your value of life. And that’s like, I considered that as growth. And when it comes to, for example, workplaces that underpay like underpaying jobs, but they still have other values such as growth or values that, that kinda like substitute for the pay wage. If that makes sense. I feel like people are like, people remember hardships more than they, more than they think of growth. So like when it comes to those, like getting fired from a job, for example, that would just stuck with you compared to like growing or learning something like finding out about someone else’s culture, which you don’t really consider subconsciously like as growth.
[00:08:13] [Speaker 1] Yeah. That’s a really good point. So when, when, when you think about either places that you, that like organizations and groups and people that you want to be associated with in the future, or some that you are now, how, how do they, how can those places, or do those places live into this value and make it like, you know, make it a place that you can look at it and say, are a person that you can look at and say like, that’s going to help foster my growth. How do you know that?
[00:08:36] [Speaker 0] For example, I, my job, they, they do this. It’s like a vision board where they think the workers that work there, so their family members or residents, family members, or the residents themselves. Right. Thank you letters. And they post it on there and that makes us help and like, feel appreciated. So things like that, it doesn’t have to be something that’s really big and like HR level, but we can get there. We can, we should just start like very minor and like caring for, for their workers and their workers, family, and personal life, and how to basically make that worker achieve an or overachieved their workload during the day. Like, yeah.
[00:09:30] [Speaker 1] I mean, it’s, that’s one of the interesting things I think about having this posture of growth fullness is that y’all I say y’all meaning like your generation. I know you’re laughing at my y’all I’m from Texas. You’re that you’re sort of like ready for whatever comes. So like, if I were to ask you what, in what way, and I know this is kind of hard, but in, in what ways do you anticipate that you’re going to do the most growth over the next 10 years? Do you think it’s going to be professionally socially? Like, what are you looking for?
[00:09:57] [Speaker 0] More her, both personally and academically, I feel like those like, kind of interlined together for me, especially like studying abroad would like, not only like increase my knowledge and like academia wise, but also like personal experiences and like have like long network with people or like connections to peoples like, and like see the Kenyan people in the eyes of my culture, for example. Yeah. So yeah, I think both personally and academically, like, that’s what, I’m more like more interested in,
[00:10:37] [Speaker 1] I it’s, it strikes me as you’re talking about one of the keys here seems to be that you’re just, you’re you’re really comfortable being uncomfortable. I think that’s what keeps a lot of people from growing is that they just don’t like being uncomfortable. Right. So they just go back to what they know, but it sounds like you’re, you’re okay with being unconscious.
[00:10:52] [Speaker 0] Yeah. So that’s like one of the, one of the first steps to like take him when you want growth is like cutting yourself in like a warrantable situation. Like for example, like I just, as my work, I’m going to be talking a lot about being a CNA or working at a nursing home, those seniors or residents that I care for are very formidable and they’ve, they basically have no choice, but to just like, be vulnerable with us and through that, like we grow and they grow at the same time. If that makes sense.
[00:11:28] [Speaker 1] That’s a really great example. What, what are some, do you have any thoughts at all about like ways that an organization or a leader can, can sort of foster that like making you feel okay to be vulnerable, like almost like vulnerable and safe at the same time. So that that growth can happen.
[00:11:47] [Speaker 0] I feel like a lot of like cultural competency programs are needed just to be aware of each other’s values and like cultural backgrounds and just know little bit about like people that you’re working with. Not like, not necessarily, America’s like a melting pot. So like we have people from all backgrounds and not all of us are, think the same, but like, I feel like under like big corporations or organizations that we have, like that one mindset of like, Oh, everybody’s American. So we must all have the same values, same culture, but that’s not true. So
[00:12:28] [Speaker 1] Yeah. So getting to know people and understanding then can actually create that safe space where people to take risks. Yeah.
[00:12:34] [Speaker 0] Yes. And like maybe like offering workshops for their employees where they can just connect and like listen to each other. Like there’s a program that Martha was introduced me to it’s called building bridges and like talking about it. It reminds me of some of the topics that we’ve addressed within that program.
[00:12:56] [Speaker 1] Well, it’s so hard. A lot of the values that we talk about in this book, whether it’s being truthful or being inclusive, what have you, you know, we’re not necessarily talking about them through a religious lens, even though that’s one of our key concerns at springtime, but they sort of sound like religious things. When, when you’re talking about this commitment to always like trying to become who, you know, your creator made you to be in whatever sort of way that you might think about that. And I’m wondering for you, and yet at the same time, I know a lot of people from a lot of religions who are like, I’m not trying to grow in my faith. Like I, it was given to me or I, you know, figured it out or whatever. And that’s the end of that story. And I’m not going to ask any more questions. And so I’m curious about whether or not this value of being grateful, extends over to your faith or spiritual life. If you have one.
[00:13:41] [Speaker 0] Yes. Especially like the time that we’re going through, COVID-19 this pandemic in the middle of this patient, I’ve really learned what the meaning of patient is as a Muslim. Like I go to the mosque as a child, I read the Koran and whatnot, but I never really like thought too much. And I never gave, I never gave too much thought into it. The like there’s a verse in the [inaudible], which means God is with those, with the patient ones. And like just seeing close residents said that I’ve developed relationships passing away and all this things that are coming, whether it’s like at work or even like in school, like school’s closing up everything, moving to like virtual, like online. The only choice that I had was to be patient and make prayers. And that I felt like in that sense, like my religion, that COVID kind of brought me closer to my religion.
[00:14:44] [Speaker 1] Yeah. That it’s sort of like, but you had to be open for that even. I mean, I think part of the connection that I’m making is that like your posture of being ready and accepting, you know, for challenges and growth is the only thing that would have allowed you to see that.
[00:14:57] [Speaker 0] Yes, definitely. Definitely. Yeah. Open-mindedness and willing to like learn and grow, not just learn we learn, but it’s like, it’s one thing learning. And then it’s another thing like actually projecting that into your daily life. So yes,
[00:15:14] [Speaker 1] That’s a really, that’s an excellent distinction to make. Like, what we would call in in my field is a professor where we could use too many words. We would say that’s a distinction with a difference. Like that matters. I think a lot of, a lot of older people that I know they’re happy to learn, but they don’t grow.
[00:15:28] [Speaker 0] Yes. And I feel like the growth part is related to you using those things that you learned in your life or wherever you gained that knowledge from and like putting it, like utilizing it basically to grow
[00:15:46] [Speaker 1] Well, I commend you for that. And I know that it can be a weird thing to get on a podcast and talk about your life and your values to people. And so this might be one of those things that made you a little bit uncomfortable, but you’re here. You are giving us some of your time and helping our audience to understand why this value is so important, how it shows up in people’s lives. So thank you so much for being with us today. I really appreciate it.
[00:16:08] [Speaker 0] Bye. Have a good day. Does it spring tide research.org, to hear more voices of young people and purchase our latest book, meaning making eight values that drive America’s newest generations, sign up for our newsletter and be the first to learn about our upcoming research, including the 2020 state of religion and young people report coming out this fall today’s show is produced by Lada, obliging and TJ Birnbaum, but the original music by high school student Christian on special thanks to our guests today and all the young people whose perspectives and insights make our research possible. Remember to find us on social media, we are spring tide and share your own story with the hashtag show up for young people. Thanks for listening.
