growing pains
Maturation's inevitable struggles
Growing pains refers to aches in children's limbs, traditionally attributed to rapid growth though the cause remains unclear.
The phrase more often describes difficulties that accompany development or expansion: The startup experienced growing pains as it scaled from ten employees to a hundred.
A television show by that name aired from 1985 to 1992.
Things in the way
- setbacksReversals of progress
- struggleLabored effort against resistance
- adversitySevere difficulty or suffering
- hardshipSuffering from difficult circumstances
hurdles · adjustment period · bottleneck · inefficiencies · adaptation · learning curve · restructuring · teething troubles
Teenage developmental stage
- pubertySexual development stage
- maturationProcess of becoming complete
- childhoodLife's earliest phase
- coming-of-ageYouth becoming adulthood
youth · teenage years · developmental stage · physical changes · hormonal changes · awkward phase · formative years · emotional development
obstacles
Things in the way
- setbacksReversals of progress
- struggleLabored effort against resistance
- adversitySevere difficulty or suffering
hardship · hurdles · adjustment period · bottleneck · inefficiencies · adaptation · learning curve · restructuring · teething troubles
adolescence
Teenage developmental stage
- pubertySexual development stage
- maturationProcess of becoming complete
- childhoodLife's earliest phase
coming-of-age · youth · teenage years · developmental stage · physical changes · hormonal changes · awkward phase · formative years · emotional development · identity formation
ache
Persistent dull discomfort
- body metaphorsbackbone, blind spot, gut feeling, headache, heartbeat
- growthincrease, increasing, expansion, expand, expanding
- adolescencepuberty, teenager, coming-of-age, teen, adolescent
- childhood ailmentschickenpox, measles, mumps, croup, ear infection
- childhood themeschildhood trauma, nostalgia, innocence, imagination, play
- coming-of-agecoming-of-age, bildungsroman, maturation, youth, young adult
growing painsdeath throes
Final moments of dying
swan song · last gasp · steady state · end-stage · winding down
grow, pain, growth, growing, painful, grown, pains, grows, grower