How Healing Transformed My Perspective in One Year

Daily writing prompt

Is your life today what you pictured a year ago?

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In many ways, my life is exactly what I pictured a year ago. For me, big changes or transitions don’t happen very often because I shy away from them. So my life is essentially stagnant. Each year that goes by literally feels like a breath. It goes so fast that I don’t even have time to wrap my head around what happened—because most of the time, nothing does.

My life doesn’t revolve around excitement and opportunity because I don’t put myself out there for it. Most of my life, I’ve stayed secure in my bubble. I don’t let people in very often, and I don’t venture out willingly a lot of the time. It’s not that I don’t want to welcome new things—I’m just fearful of putting myself out there for the world to see.

I’ve always been that way. I was afraid of judgment, failure, and rejection, so I opted to stay hidden for as long as I could. Change was something that made me nervous. It was the uncertainty, the doubt, the endless thoughts that would encapsulate my mind and create this version of myself that I thought I was.

However, over the past year, I have been really focused on my healing journey. I started taking better care of myself emotionally, and I learned more about how I function and why I do the things I do sometimes. It’s really come full circle, being able to see myself clearly for the first time in forever.

So yes, my life at the moment has exceeded my expectations from last year. I’m so much more dedicated and focused on caring for myself in the ways that I need to feel comforted and nurtured. I’ve grown so much since last year in the sense that I can now say I’m comfortable in my own skin—and that’s something I never thought imaginable.

But I’ve realized that I needed to stop running and hiding from everyone and everything. If I just stay still, I’ll never have any opportunity for growth and development.

This year has opened my eyes to the prospect of welcoming change. I really want to push myself out of my bubble and take more leaps. I want to venture more, explore, learn, and take risks. The life I’ve always envisioned exists, I deserve it, and sitting on it isn’t going to do anything. So I’m looking toward the future with newfound vision and newly found courage.

“Staying still kept me safe, but choosing myself is what’s finally helping me grow.”