A year ago, I can only imagine what it would have felt like to write this. Back then, I was in a different space, carrying a different kind of weight. Even now, I catch glimpses of her throughout my day—the version of me who was trying so hard to prove herself, to be seen, to be enough. I wish I could reach back and tell her what I know now. She didn’t need to earn her worth. She didn’t need to prove anything. What she truly needed was to turn inward, to find the love and validation she was so desperately seeking from the world within herself. But that’s the beauty of growth, isn’t it? We don’t realize the lesson until we’ve lived through it.
For years, I’ve written different versions of this same message. It used to frustrate me, feeling like I was repeating myself, as if I were the girl who cried wolf. I kept circling back to the same realizations, making similar mistakes, learning and unlearning the same lessons. But something feels different now. That familiar sense of shame has loosened its grip. I see now that personal growth isn’t linear, and it isn’t about arriving at a perfect, unshakable version of yourself. Growth is cyclical. We revisit the same truths at deeper levels, peeling back layers we didn’t even know existed. The lessons don’t disappear; they evolve as we do.
It reminds me of the fuel in a car. Sometimes, our tank is full. We’re moving forward with clarity, applying everything we’ve learned, feeling unstoppable. But inevitably, that energy runs low. We find ourselves feeling empty, uncertain, questioning things we thought we had already figured out. It can be frustrating to feel like we’re back at square one, but the truth is, we’re never really starting over. Each time we return to a lesson, we do so with a new level of awareness, a deeper sense of understanding.
So we learn again.
We come to the same realizations.
We try the same things over.
And somehow, each time, it means something different.
What I’ve come to understand is that there is a quiet beauty in that process. It’s not a failure. It’s not something to be ashamed of. It’s the very nature of transformation. With each turn of the cycle, we gain something new—a perspective we didn’t have before, a wisdom we wouldn’t have grasped if we hadn’t lived through the experience again. There are past decisions I can never undo, choices that changed the course of my life in ways I never expected. Some of those consequences have become part of the foundation I now stand on, shaping who I am today. And yet, when I reflect on even my most difficult moments, I see them for what they really were: turning points, catalysts, the very things that cleared the path for the best gifts life has to offer.
Right now, I find myself at a familiar crossroad, one I’ve stood at many times before. It’s a place that used to make me feel incredibly vulnerable, uncertain, and self-conscious. This time, though, I feel something different. A quiet sense of steadiness. A trust in myself that I never quite had before.
I’m starting my own business.
But this time, I didn’t rush into it. I didn’t let excitement cloud my judgment or let fear push me into seeking approval before I was ready. I built this quietly, intentionally. I gave myself the space to lay a solid foundation before sharing it with the world. I took my time making decisions that felt right to me, without letting outside opinions sway my direction. I listened to my own intuition, and because of that, I move forward with confidence. This isn’t about proving anything anymore. It’s about creating something meaningful, something that feels true to me.
Maybe I am the girl who cried wolf.
But if that’s the case, then I am also the girl who rises, again and again. I am doing the best I can with everything I’ve carried from before, with the wisdom I’ve gained along the way. I feel imperfectly whole. The nuances of my character have shifted, but at my core, I am still deeply myself. Only now, I accept that I’m not meant to be for everyone.
And for the first time in my life, I am completely at peace with that.
I don’t need to fit into a single box.
I don’t need to follow a path that makes sense to everyone else.
I don’t need to be anyone other than who I am.
I am embracing every version of myself, past and present.
And to anyone who finds themselves standing at a similar crossroads, questioning if they are enough, wondering if they are ready—I hope you give yourself the grace to trust your own journey. You are not behind. You are exactly where you are meant to be.
Keep going. Keep believing. Keep becoming.
Because every version of you—the one who doubted, the one who struggled, the one who rose again—deserves to be celebrated.
You are enough. Always.
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