Landslide

I'm heading into the final week of the full-time fellowship. It has been a profound honor and has also given me more than a few moments of personal growth that stretched me in ways I didn't expect (and often didn't want).

I wrote this sentence in the now-worn notebook I've carried all over campus, filled with scribbles of things I've heard, learned, or wanted to reflect on: "A new reality is always meeting you." It was a reminder that life is constantly shifting, often in small, quiet ways we barely notice.

Think of how the seasons change. One day, you look up and realize it's spring. But spring didn't arrive overnight. It was unfolding around you all along. The change feels sudden only because our awareness of evolution—whether inside ourselves or in the world around us—is limited. We're not always tuned in.

That reminder has helped me avoid panicking as I walk away from this fellowship without a firm plan for what's next. For the first time in my adult life, I'm moving forward without a blueprint. I'm letting fate and sweet freedom build at least some portion of my next reality. And even that next chapter, whatever it turns into, will one day become a memory of a life I once lived. I am letting spring happen in my own life.

I'm trying to stop being (as) afraid of the one unshakable truth of life: change is constant, bringing with it entirely new worlds. No matter how comfortable we get, life has a way of stirring things up. Sometimes, we choose it—like me, moving across the country for this fellowship and leaving behind a life I had designed and mostly loved. Other times, it arrives uninvited, full of surprise and disruption.

Whether by choice or by chance, our lives are always on the move. The reality we knew yesterday can vanish in a second, which can be terrifying. But still, we persist. We walk forward into our new worlds, knowing that not only will a new reality meet us over and over, but we'll meet it with open eyes, knowing we will one day only hold it as a memory of what once was.

Here we go...