The Growth Point Layer: What If Everything You've Been Through Was Preparing You for This?

The Therapeutic Design Process I Accidentally Created

At the center of an onion lies the growth point—the exact spot where new life can emerge. Have you found your growth point yet?

Week after week, I sit down with no idea what the next layer will reveal. I have a title and AIDA structure, but I don't really know anything about the next week. I go layer by layer, question by question.

The deep dive questions aren't easy. Sometimes I debate how far I should take the authenticity—how much is too much? Sometimes I want to stop, but I push through. Each week feels like giving myself homework when I should be diving into more passive income streams, but I love this process. I look forward to it.

Then something strange started happening.

When Life Starts Mirroring Your Questions

Every week, the questions we explore start appearing everywhere in my daily life. Like when you notice a yellow Volkswagen Bug, then suddenly see them everywhere—what we excavate in our conversations starts showing up in conversations with others, in the news, in moments I least expect.

My friend reached out about Week 13's "Anger Guard" piece: "This really hit home. Many men feel this way when anyone questions their path. I'm seeing your therapy sessions in action."

That's when it clicked. This isn't just newsletter writing. This process—the deep questioning, the vulnerable excavation, the structured reflection—has become the most therapeutic thing I've done in years.

The Bridge I've Always Been

I've always been the bridge between vision and reality. In my design company, I extract brand visions from clients' minds and make them visible. They have ideas but lack technical skills; I translate their souls into visuals —deep, I know!

In our Web3 company, I took simple PowerPoints and transformed them into professional presentations that looked like we had an ad agency. When we needed a subsidiary company—logo, website, investor deck—I'd design live on Zoom calls, extracting the vision and making it professional in real-time. This was pre-AI, just me with Adobe and years of design clients. They knew the value—it's how I became a partner.

But this newsletter process revealed something deeper: I'm not just bridging creative vision and practical execution. I'm aiming to inspire others with my sincere, truthful authenticity to spark their authentic vision too.

Where All the Layers Converge

Everything I've experienced—the family business struggles, the creative suppression, the Web3 journey, the therapy work, becoming a father—was preparing me for this integration point.

My growth point isn't being the best designer OR the best entrepreneur. It's being someone who can help others peel back their layers while simultaneously translating what they discover into something the world can see and receive.

The therapeutic questioning + creative translation + vulnerable storytelling = a process that didn't exist before, or you paid a lot for coaches and got overstimulated on content.

Every wound I've healed, every pattern I've broken, every skill I've developed serves this one purpose: showing others through my authenticity that integration is possible. I can show you to the door, but walking through it—that's all you.

The Layers Make the Whole

What I've learned is that all of our layers are integral and necessary—even the wounded ones. We don't eliminate them; we recognize how they contribute to our unique offering.

My creative suppression taught me how to help others overcome theirs. My family business struggle gave me practical wisdom, and on a personal note, ended generational cycles of trauma within my lineage. My therapy work provided the tools to recognize my subconscious programming. My Web3 journey showed me how to bridge complex concepts. My fatherhood anchored everything in legacy and purpose.

None of these experiences were random. They were all preparing me to serve at this exact intersection where authentic self-discovery meets practical implementation.

Your growth point isn't where you become perfect. It's where everything you've been through finally serves something bigger than yourself. The deeper I get, the more I feel like I'm just getting started. So treat yourself kindly in whatever implementation you're in now.

The center of your onion isn't empty—it's where all your layers converge into generative purpose. Where your unique combination of gifts, wounds, and wisdom creates something the world needs that only you can provide.

"Our wounds are often the openings into the best and most beautiful part of us." — Stephen Levine

What would emerge if you trusted that all your layers—the beautiful and the broken—were preparing you for your unique contribution to the world?

Being Coached Layers: The Hidden Pearl

This week, Dr. Goodman says that what lies at the center of the onion is a pearl. Just as an oyster creates a pearl in response to an irritation, healing is the spontaneous recognition of a curse as a blessing. He explains that when you find and embrace this hidden order, it transforms you and, in turn, empowers you to approach the next layer of the onion, a process that is never-ending.

He reminds you that all of this—the newsletter and the layers you are peeling back—started in the chair that birthed the idea for Fridays with Goodman. His advice is to embrace this journey, find your hidden pearl, and when you are truly ready, you can monetize it to create everything you ever wanted, on your own terms.

Bookshelf Peeled - Let Your Life Speak

This week’s exploration of finding a growth point where all of my experiences converge made me think of a good book, Let Your Life Speak by Parker J. Palmer. He writes about finding your true calling not by following external expectations, but by listening to the “hidden wholeness” of who you are.

The lesson from Palmer's work is that your purpose isn't something you create; it's something you uncover. He argues that our past experiences, including our struggles and wounds, are not random. They are an integral part of our unique “growth point,” preparing us for the service we are meant to give. Just as an onion's growth point emerges from the center of all its layers, your purpose is revealed at the convergence of every layer of your life, both the beautiful and the bruised.

Note: This post contains an affiliate link

Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation
by Parker J. Palmer

Buy book here

Design Rebel: The Contractor

This piece was inspired by the idea of becoming a contractor for your own life, building bridges from all of your experiences—even the rusty ones. Images and videos were created using Leonardo.ai, while the voices were brought to life by ElevenLabs.io. The script was a collaborative effort between me and Gemini, with the final editing and production completed in Wondershare Filmora.

Weekly Inspired Insights I liked or found useful this week:

I’m a big fan of mythology and Joseph Campbell. I recently found Michael Meade, and his work, inspired by mythology, has been a great find. Check out this video.

P.S. If this resonates with you, share it with someone. I'm dedicated to helping fellow explorers—or anyone who found this page—uncover their authentic self with humor and insight. We're all in this together, finding the courage to truly live from our core essence (or as close as we can get!).