There is a strange moment that arrives somewhere between becoming who you were and discovering who you are going to be. Nothing announces it. There is no dramatic music, no neatly drawn line beneath the past, no sign pointing toward the future. You simply look up one day and realize that the life around you no longer fits quite the way it used to. The dreams that once felt distant have moved closer. The things you once tolerated have begun to feel unbearable. Even your own reflection seems to carry a question you cannot quite answer yet.

We tend to imagine growth as something obvious. We picture ourselves moving confidently toward a destination, collecting victories along the way, each accomplishment proving that we are headed in the right direction. Real growth is rarely so courteous. More often, it leaves us standing in unfamiliar territory with the uncomfortable knowledge that we cannot return to who we were, even though we are not entirely sure who we are becoming.
(more…)










