Reconnecting on this journey
Growth is hard because change is hard.
It comes with a certain acknowledgement that you are not where you want to be. That your life is currently not satisfying, that it’s not doing it for you. It can be hard to admit that. It’s hard to look around and see things that other people have that you want.
How do you define that? How do you know what it is, and how do you know how to get to where you want to be?
There’s no magic formula you can follow that will just take you to that place. You have to walk the paths, with all their splits, hills, valleys, rocks, roots and misleading signs. Sometimes you have to go backward to go forward. Sometimes you have to be lost to find yourself again.
How hard is that? None of us want to be lost. Nobody wants to take the wrong turn, only to come to a dead end and realize you have to go back. Maybe you straight up missed a turn, an opportunity, waiting for you at the end.
I’m learning to reconnect with this being who is on a journey. Who is wandering down paths that I do not quite know where they lead.
If you knew exactly where every path led to, why would you choose anything else? Why would you choose the unknown?
Because it’s the unknown that leads us to unexpected victories, wins, rewards, knowledge, love and excitement. You should find where you’re comfortable, but also find where you’re not. Live actively in between those spaces, where you’re bouncing back and forth between one and the other.
This is your zone of growth, your zone of change. You don’t always have to leap off the mountain, sometimes you just sprint down the hill. And then the next time, you go a little farther, a little faster. You have a new baseline, and you’re moving forward.
That new thing that was so scary will slowly start to become comfortable. You might not even realize it as time slowly heals your anxieties and fears.
As you begin to let go of your old self, always look back and celebrate that victory. Congratulate yourself on your journey. Never be afraid to reconnect with the old you.