This post reminds me of Rebecca Solnit’s “A field guide to getting lost.”
I can definitely relate to a lot of this post! I graduated from nursing school at 22 and had all the adult things check marked- a stable, reputable job, my own apartment, time to travel, a nice savings account, and I was miserable. It took me most of my twenties (and some of my thirties!) to really create a life that was authentic to me- which on paper might appear less adult like now to others!
In the end, whatever phase of life we’re in, the more authentically we can be ourselves, mess and all I hope will give others courage and permission to do the same. Thanks for sharing your story here!
Ahh thank you for the reminder to pull that book off the shelf! I’m glad you can relate. Funny how common these experiences are when at the time, for me at least, I often feel so alone 🪴
I relate so much to this, especially not being praised for the inner work vs. the outer work on someone else’s escalator. Definitely a huge fan of messiness as well, and figuring life out on your own terms. This definition is definitely going to stay with me too -
“A person who can be honest about what she wants, has the courage to go after it, and has faith in herself that, no matter how badly she fails, she’ll be there to pick herself up again. That’s what I think adulthood means.”
Once again I feel seen. A few weeks ago I was reflecting on exactly this 👇🏽 [[ I swear my entire 20s was a joy-ride of utter madness, swerving from one drama to the next, jeez, I was a hot mess!😂 ]] So thank you for helping me own my hot mess years and the many, MANY frogs as NECESSARY EXPERIMENTS on the path to knowing what I DON’T WANT in order to know what I do 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👌🏽Love, love, love this bit 👉🏽 ‘... needs to experiment in order to figure out what’s right for her. I love the way this concept in both instances is rendered as necessary trial and error instead of through the extremely tired trope of shame.’ HELL YES. Shame, I am done with you! Because this is how humans grow. Thank you for your words ❤️🩹
Be. Being. Becoming.
Emerging.
I think I was in my 40s before I stopped feeling like maybe I was only playing at being an adult and really was one.
Nice to see you, butterfly.
That’s immensely comforting!!
That photo of you is incredible!
This post reminds me of Rebecca Solnit’s “A field guide to getting lost.”
I can definitely relate to a lot of this post! I graduated from nursing school at 22 and had all the adult things check marked- a stable, reputable job, my own apartment, time to travel, a nice savings account, and I was miserable. It took me most of my twenties (and some of my thirties!) to really create a life that was authentic to me- which on paper might appear less adult like now to others!
In the end, whatever phase of life we’re in, the more authentically we can be ourselves, mess and all I hope will give others courage and permission to do the same. Thanks for sharing your story here!
Ahh thank you for the reminder to pull that book off the shelf! I’m glad you can relate. Funny how common these experiences are when at the time, for me at least, I often feel so alone 🪴
Beautifully written Julia.
Wonderful image. Rich meaningful content. Thanks for sharing.
As someone in a phase of internal emergence after having a "big girl job", much of this resonated with me! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you Claire! I’m glad to hear it
I relate so much to this, especially not being praised for the inner work vs. the outer work on someone else’s escalator. Definitely a huge fan of messiness as well, and figuring life out on your own terms. This definition is definitely going to stay with me too -
“A person who can be honest about what she wants, has the courage to go after it, and has faith in herself that, no matter how badly she fails, she’ll be there to pick herself up again. That’s what I think adulthood means.”
Once again I feel seen. A few weeks ago I was reflecting on exactly this 👇🏽 [[ I swear my entire 20s was a joy-ride of utter madness, swerving from one drama to the next, jeez, I was a hot mess!😂 ]] So thank you for helping me own my hot mess years and the many, MANY frogs as NECESSARY EXPERIMENTS on the path to knowing what I DON’T WANT in order to know what I do 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👌🏽Love, love, love this bit 👉🏽 ‘... needs to experiment in order to figure out what’s right for her. I love the way this concept in both instances is rendered as necessary trial and error instead of through the extremely tired trope of shame.’ HELL YES. Shame, I am done with you! Because this is how humans grow. Thank you for your words ❤️🩹
Yess! So glad to hear it. I'll likely need to continually re-learn the shame lesson. Here's to us both taking it in for today