The Art of Starting Over
I stood in my empty apartment, keys in hand, ready to lock the door one final time. Five years of my life packed into a sedan and a future waiting 2,000 miles away. Was I making a mistake? Possibly. Was I terrified? Absolutely.
We're taught to crave certainty—to plot our lives on five-year plans and career ladders. But the most transformative moments of my life have always arrived unscheduled, through doors I was afraid to open.
The promotion I turned down. The relationship I walked away from when it looked perfect on paper. The impulsive road trip that led to friendships that have lasted decades. None of these decisions made sense at the time. All of them reshaped me.
Society celebrates knowing, not wondering. We reward confidence, not curiosity. But I've learned that growth lives in the questions, not the answers.
When I left my hometown, I wasn't running from something but toward something I couldn't yet name. The journey stripped me of familiar comforts—favorite coffee shops, the shorthand of old friendships, the predictable rhythms of a life I could navigate with my eyes closed.
What I found in their place was myself—unfiltered, adaptable, and far more resilient than I'd imagined. I discovered capacities that would have remained dormant in familiar surroundings.
Sometimes the bravest thing we can do is begin again. Not because our current life is broken, but because we recognize that comfort and growth rarely share the same address.
What might be waiting for you beyond the borders of certainty? I can't promise it won't be messy or difficult. But I can promise it will be yours.
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