Holding Every Version of Yourself With Grace

There's the girl you used to be. The woman you are right now. And the one you're slowly, quietly becoming. Most days we're tempted to be hard on at least one of them.

We cringe at who we were at nineteen. We're impatient with who we are today. We're anxious about whether we'll measure up to who we're supposed to be. But what if all three of those women deserve the same thing — grace?

The girl you were

She did the best she could with what she knew. She was learning. She was brave in ways you've probably forgotten. Instead of being embarrassed by her, what if you thanked her? So much of who you are now was built by her hoping, her trying, her figuring it out as she went.

The woman you are

She's tired, maybe. Stretched thin. Doing a hundred invisible things a day that no one claps for. She doesn't need another critic — she has plenty of those inside her own head. She needs a friend. Be that for yourself today.

We keep picking up the pieces, releasing a few, and learning how to hold all the versions of ourselves with grace.

The one you're becoming

You don't have to have her figured out yet. Becoming is not a failure to have already arrived — it's the whole point. You get to grow. You get to change your mind. You get to lay down the pieces that were never yours to carry and pick up the ones that are.

Hold all of them gently. The girl, the woman, the mother, the becoming. They're all you, and they're all worth loving.