I’m pacing outside, uncomfortable and somewhat distressed about my circumstances. (I want smooth and easy!) Life has served another simultaneous pile-on of issues with drained savings, marriage arguments, and creative demands. At least I won’t be in this place forever.

I am growing.

I’ve learned one guaranteed thing about myself: I’m always moving. Sure, I’ll splash around in my own misery and kick against frustrating walls — feelings happen — yet time after time, I drag myself to a different perspective and surrender. Ok life, what am I learning here?

Revisiting old wounds doesn’t feel like progress. Tumbling through a learning-curve feels like failure. This fog about the future also hides the road behind me.

Still, I know I’m growing. I may just be too close to notice.

Sitting with my nose against a tree trunk keeps me from noticing the changes in the branches: my perspective is too narrow. Step away, take a breath, and uncuff yourself from your crushing expectations. Life is wide, messy, and yours.

This affirmation is a call to pause and acknowledge my internal journey as connected to my external.

Getting comfortable with this acknowledgement — not the specific changes I notice, but the practice of recognizing my internal and external paths — is the lesson. Get comfy sitting with that elephant in the room, the simultaneous-journey-elephant. Your momentum is a connected movement of these two paths.

Yeaaaaah, there you are.

I am growing. This is your affirmation.

Take three seconds to close your eyes, breathe deeply, and reaffirm this truth. (It’s true, even if it doesn’t feel electric.) This truth moves you from tree trunk to elephant trunk.

I’m not excusing bad behavior but instead, seeing it and moving away from that patch of ground — even if my first step is this one. It’s a beautiful step!

Hot tip: take your own hand as you grow, in this moment and with what’s ahead. You can literally hold your own hand (it reinforces support, presence, and comfort) or just internally take the hand of your growing self.

Be the adult who wasn’t there when you needed them.

Only you know the exact challenges you face inside and outside: take your hand.

Be kind.

Be gentle.

Be patient:

you’re growing.

I am growing.

Shoulders back, eyes up, let your heart radiate. (Oooooh — that’s bright!)

Grab a hand, we’re in momentum.