You have to be willing to grow. Growth is different from something that happens to you. You produce it. You live it. The prerequisites for growth: the openness to experience events and the willingness to be changed by them.
The meaning of life is contained in every single expression of life. It is present in the infinity of forms and phenomena that exist in all of creation.
When you follow your heart or your gut, when you really follow the things that feel right to you and the things that you know are right, that's really the only way to create the best possible outcome.