This New Year, Honor How Far You’ve Come ✨
'Be proud of how far you've come, even if it's not where you thought you would be.'
Welcome to the Collective World X Thought Catalog Newsletter. Collective World is a one-of-a-kind creative network powered by the minds and voices behind The Thought & Expression Company. We’re so glad you’re here.
As the year comes to an end, I hope you take the time to honor the ways you’ve grown in the last 12 months. I hope you give yourself the credit that you deserve, even if you don’t fully believe that you deserve it.
Sometimes growth isn’t always obvious. You may look back at the past year and convince yourself you haven’t changed at all. And you know what? It’s okay if you haven’t gone through any life-changing transformations. It’s okay if you feel stagnant or lost. But whether you realize it or not, you have grown. Little by little, you have planted the seeds for who you’re going to become. You may never look back and notice that this was when it all started, but trust that it is.
It’s okay if you feel like you’ve taken more steps backwards than forwards. It’s okay if you’ve stumbled along the way. Instead of beating yourself up for not being where you think you should be in life, congratulate yourself for making it this far, because that too is an accomplishment. Instead of holding on to your failures, show yourself grace. In the wise words of Rainna Acheta, “It is okay to lose because you will not constantly be losing, and even if you lose again, you are still worthy of love and happiness. Your worth doesn’t change when you fail.”
It’s okay if you don’t know where to go from here. It’s okay if you can’t figure out the next steps in your healing or self-help journey. The truth is, the universe is always collaborating with you to get you to where you need to be. And sometimes the lessons you learn will be hard, and you’ll feel like you’re doing everything wrong, but even that is growth. Just give yourself the time to see the results.
This is your reminder that you are always growing, whether you realize it or not. As Arlene Ambrose wrote, “Ask yourself, am I the same person today as I was 10 years ago? We’re constantly evolving, and so is the world around us, not in leaps and bounds, but by almost invisible increments.”
Little by little, you’re getting to the place you need to be—remember that.
What We’re Reading This Week 📖💛
“I think if we are anything, we are our habits, and so the best thing you can do is to make sure you’re cultivating ones that serve you well.” — J. P. Brammer
“But love is really more of an interactive process. It’s about what we do not just what we feel. It’s a verb, not a noun.” — bell hooks
“Every single writer that you can name—all the greats—they were a writer before they published their first book.” — Min Jin Lee
“Grief is a form of insanity. It exists outside the realm of ‘normal’ experience. People will expect you to be sad and normal. You are not normal. And sad doesn’t begin to describe it.” — Barbara Lazear Ascher
“Someday, when you least expect it, you are going to crash into someone who is going to be so soft and gentle with your heart, and you are going to be so glad you kept it open. You are going to be so glad that you continued to fight for it—that you chose to believe you deserved more.” — Bianca Sparacino
For more reading recommendations follow Quote Catalog where we find and file the best things to read every single day.
Let us leave you with this:
“If you feel like you aren’t growing thing about where you were a year ago—
Maybe you’re examining your life on a lens so zoomed in
You’ve already outgrown it.” — Sophia Joan Short
I hope you choose to honor your growth, no matter how small it seems 🌱
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