I own myself

So, I had this coffee catch-up with an old friend the other day, something that’s become a rarity given the craziness of our mid-30s life. Between sips of overly expensive lattes and updates on life, work, and the endless juggle, and a story of a tragedy she was into, suddenly she dropped a line that honestly felt like a mic drop moment: “I own myself.”

It wasn’t said with arrogance or as some dismissive wave to the complexities of life. No, it was a statement of acceptance, of responsibility, and oddly, of freedom. And man, did it stick with me.

The Growth

Today, I stumbled upon something in TikTok that hit me hard, “the degree to which a person can grow is directly proportional to the amount of truth they can accept about themselves without running away.” It got me thinking about all the mess I’ve waded through and the person I’m slowly becoming.

I gotta be honest; my history’s got more shades than a spilled paint can – the kind that makes you ask, “What on earth was I thinking?” It’s a mix of choices I wouldn’t exactly brag about, and for a good chunk of time, I believed I was a lost cause.

Kinda felt like if life was a game, I’d somehow managed to botch it up so bad, there was no hitting reset. Just stuck on the ‘game over’ screen, you know?

You Can’t Run Forever

It’s all about that one line that totally knocked the wind out of me: “You can’t run forever.”

Let me set the scene. It was just another one of those evenings where you can feel the chill biting through your jacket, making you wish you were home with a hot cup of something strong. But there I was, outside, trying to shake off the kind of mistake that clings to you tighter than your shadow.

So, this old friend of mine, comes out of nowhere, with his “Hey!”

I replied, totally thrown off. “What are you doing here?”

He just shrugged, that old familiar grin spreading across their face. But then, the smile faded as they looked at me, really looked at me. “You know, you can’t run forever,” he said, all traces of joking gone.