A Letter to the One Who Keeps Starting Over

Dear new version of me,

I know we've restarted so often it probably feels like you're just walking in circles. But starting over is really just you remembering the parts of yourself you actually want to bring along with you. It means something was missing, and you wanted to find a path that felt closer to who you are — instead of staying on the one you thought you were supposed to want.

We go down these roads, and it's not until we get far down the path — or too far down it, whichever way you see it — that we realize we chose the wrong one. That fork in the road doesn't give you instructions on how to reach the destination. So you try, you figure it out, you walk back, and you try the next path.

The beautiful thing is that you're never starting from the beginning. Starting over and starting from scratch are two different things. You're starting with all the information, all the knowledge, and all the pieces of you that wouldn't even exist if you hadn't gone down that wrong path. It's a refinement, even when it feels like a stall-out.

To the version of me who is tired of starting over: let's just see if we can try to enjoy the journey this time.