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I. Distance yourself from those in your life who constantly remind

you of who you used to be, despite how hard you have worked to

learn, and grow, and become a better human being.

II. Maybe you will never get back to the person you used to be. But

maybe that is okay. Maybe that is something to celebrate, something

to embrace, because who you were is a version of yourself that exists

in the past. A version of yourself that didn't go through the

heartbreak or the hardship; a version of yourself that did not have to

navigate all of the ways in which life was trying to weather it. Who

you were is a version of yourself that didn't have to fight their way

out of the dark, that didn't have to deal with the things that caused

change to crack within the soul of you and those things transform

a human being.

Maybe you will never be reintroduced to that version of yourself.

Maybe you will never get back to who you were. Maybe that version

of yourself has evolved, has grown, into who you were meant to be at

this moment in time. Maybe you have to lay down that expectation,

maybe you have to release that comparison, and instead, maybe you

have to trust in the lessons, and the ways in which the world has

asked you to stretch towards your becoming. Maybe you have to stop

looking backwards.

Molting is the process by which a snake routinely casts off its skin to

facilitate new growth, and sometimes life forces you to do the same.

Sometimes, life challenges you to shed relationships, and ideals, and

the old versions of yourself that no longer serve you. So when you

feel like you are not the same person, when you feel like you have

unraveled, like you have evolved into someone you do not recognize,

maybe that is something to honor. You have transitioned, you have

transformed, and life will ask you to do so time and time again as you

journey through it. Do not fear your evolution. Claim it.