Sweet Reminder

December 2025

Every so often, life offers a moment that stops me long enough to take inventory.

Not the kind of inventory that asks what I’ve accomplished — but the kind that asks whether I’m still living in alignment with who I am.

In April of 2022, I found myself reflecting on a leap I took a decade earlier — one of the biggest acts of trust in my life. I followed my heart, not because it was dramatic or reckless, but because it felt honest. It was the natural choice at the time, even if I didn’t yet understand all it would require of me.

That decision has echoed back to me again and again over the years — a reminder to look around, to notice the life I’ve built, and to remember what matters.

I have lived passionately.
I have loved deeply.
And I would choose this life — and this partner — again and again.

And still… that’s not the whole story.

What I’ve learned in the years since is that gratitude doesn’t eliminate complexity. Faith doesn’t erase old memory. Loving your life doesn’t mean nothing else will ever rise to the surface.

In the last few years, something stirred in me — emotions I thought I had buried long ago. Not because I hadn’t healed, but because healing isn’t a single event. It’s a relationship you maintain with yourself over time.

Here’s the truth I don’t always say out loud:
Following my heart has always been the easy part.

It’s following my mind that challenges me now.

I’m not broken — but I am human. I am thoughtful. I am layered. And yes, sometimes I’m a hot, complicated mess. I’ve made peace with that.

What I’m passionate about now isn’t reinvention.
It’s freedom.

Freedom from the mental chains that try to pull me backward.
Freedom to live authentically, without apology.
Freedom to acknowledge the village that holds me, loves me, and reflects me back to myself when my memory falters.

This is the work of this season:
Not proving who I am — but protecting it.

And when I forget, life gently reminds me.