"And somehow, after everything, you will still bloom in the way you are meant to."

Anytime you make a decision, there’s always another decision you could have made.

If you chose to leave, what would have happened if you stayed?
If you chose to speak up, what would have happened if you had kept it to yourself?
If you chose to say “no” to an opportunity, what would have happened if you had said “yes?”

It’s overwhelming to think about the possibilities of what could have happened if you had made a different decision. Maybe things would be better. Maybe they would be worse. But the thing is...no matter how much time is given to thinking about this, there is no way of knowing. But the beautiful thing is that in the unknowing is where you find your courage. You will find that you made a decision without knowing what was going to happen and this is no easy thing to do. And regardless of the outcome, this is what strengthened you.

When you find yourself struggling, it can be so easy to focus on how things could be different if you had made different choices. You may ask yourself:

“Could I have worked a little harder?"

“Should I have said ‘yes’ to that invitation?”

“Would I be in a better place if I hadn’t decided to wait so long and just go for it?”

You are only human for asking these questions, but you don’t have to dwell there. You don’t have to put yourself on punishment just because you don’t feel like you deserve to be happy right now. Yes, it’s true, today would be different had you chosen a different direction, but no matter what that direction was, there would still be highs and lows, in the same way you are experiencing the highs and lows of today.

So when you look back on the past, and the decisions you did not or did not make, may you do so with compassion. Through all of the mistakes, mishaps, and the series of events that led you where you are today, by grace, you are still here, and you have still learned from what you have been through. And even if you feel stuck in this present moment, there is still more to you. In the same way you made it through last week, last month, and last year, you will make it through this present moment. It might not always be what you thought it would be, and you might wonder how things could have looked differently, but you can still trust and believe that you are where you need to be. You will not miss out on growing in the way you were meant to.

More tomorrow...
Sincerely,
Morgan Harper Nichols