"Even in these present unknowns, remember how far you have come."

May you never discredit how far you have come. May you never look to those ahead of you and compare your progress to theirs. Even if the people ahead of you are younger than you. Even if you feel like you would have been further along had you not been hindered by that one mistake, pitfall, or low point. Even if you cannot help but to compare where you are to some former version of yourself, your progress still matters. Whatever ways you are growing on days like this, it still matters.

You may not be able to change what happened years ago, and depending on what you are going through, you may not even be able to change certain things that are happening now, but you are still free to rise above the doubt that this right here is all there is. Even here, there is more in store.

As long as you keep making the brave choice to inhale and exhale, there is still more to come. There is still something to learn in the hours, days, and weeks that follow this one. And even though that may seem like it’s forever away, it won’t be long before you are looking back and you find that once again, you made it another week, another month, another year. This is growth. This is progress. It matters.

It is far too easy to attribute growth to tangible accomplishments. We live in a world where people only seem to turn our way when things are going incredibly well or terribly wrong. But the truth is, there are all of these other moments. There are all of these other things happening within and around us that point to how far we have come, where we are now, and how after everything we have been through, we still have the strength to carry on tomorrow.

You may not have had someone to take the time to celebrate the fact that you have grown in grace or courage or peace last year, but it still counts. You may not have coworkers or family members that notice the progress you’ve been making, but that doesn’t mean that it should be discredited. If you rely on who speaks up and who notices the gold in you, you will eventually start to convince yourself that you are so much less than what you really are.

There are so many reasons why you might be tempted to discredit yourself, but just know: it is not too late to rise above those reasons. It is not too late to look in the mirror, make eye contact with yourself, and realize that you are only seeing one layer of so many.

The way we see ourselves can be incredibly limiting, and that’s where trust comes in. We must learn to trust that even though we cannot see the many complex and colorful inner layers of ourselves, that doesn’t mean that they are not there. Just because we cannot see how things come together within us or around us that doesn’t mean that there are not rhythms and reasons for things. It takes the ability to trust in order to not discredit yourself. Iit is all too easy to forget or never even notice how far you have come.

Allow yourself to begin to trust that your journey has not been in vain. You may go day after day feeling the same, but that doesn’t mean that you have not changed. That does not mean that you have not grown in the way you were meant to. No matter what happens, may you never discredit how far you have come.

More tomorrow…

Sincerely,
Morgan Harper Nichols