What often comes next is not resolution,
but learning how to carry what we've lived through.
We begin to see that more than one thing can be true at the same time:
we can be grateful and grieving,
hopeful and tired,
ready to grow,
while still missing what once felt familiar.
We come to understand that presence isn't somewhere we arrive.
It's something we need to practise at,
again and again,
especially in times when life feels uncertain.
Returning to the small things that matter:
showing up for the ordinary days,
listening a little more closely,
resting – when the world tells us we should carry on,
being kinder to ourselves when we falter,
trusting that becoming can happen,
but it doesn't happen in a straight line.
We learn that chapters need explaining until they don't.
Some may be self-explanatory some are simply there to be lived.
We may no longer need to chase every horizon,
but do need to care for the ground beneath our feet –
with patience,
with humility,
and with hope.
Not because everything is clear,
but because we are.
– Ilana Estelle
