To The Girl Who No Longer Believes In Possibility

I see you.

I see you with your head down. I see your heavy shoulders.

I’ve seen the bathtubs and the wine and the tears and the journals.

I’ve heard the howls that come in the middle of the night. The audible sighs when the alarm goes off. The palpable disbelief that stems from being so disconnected, so disengaged, with your very own life.

The restlessness. The discontentment. The fake smiles.

I see you.  

The question on your lips is Why? You’ve asked yourself a thousand times. Why am I doing this? Why does this matter? Why am I stuck? Dig a little deeper and you’ll find the truth of the thing: Is this all there is?

People might call this a quarter-life crisis or maybe depression or, hell, maybe it’s just growing pains that come from arriving at adulthood prepared for a fancy cruise and finding yourself on a rowboat in the middle of the Atlantic.

You used to be a person who believed in things. You dreamed big and played bigger and you laughed with all your teeth. You used to expect great things to happen. You planned for them. You counted on joy to take up a lasting residence. Simply put, you believed in possibility. Your life felt big and expansive. Wide open and ready for anything.

You’ve lost that. You’ve forgotten what it’s like to believe in the not yet. You no longer believe that possibility is still a thing that can happen to people like you.

I’m here to remind you that it is.

You know more now, yes. You’re a little more jaded, a lot more guarded, a little wiser. You know that not everything is possible. That some dreams just won’t come true no matter how much you want them to. You’re right about that. I’m not going to lie and say that anything is possible, because we both know it’s not. You will never be an opera singer or an astronaut or a professional soccer player. Those are not in the cards for you. But those weren’t your dreams to begin with. The things you actually want, the life you deserve, one filled with creativity and joy and passion and ease, those things are still possible. That life is still within your grasp.

Possibility is an ocean. It’s so big you can’t even imagine. The trick is to begin. Start right where you are. Begin to wonder what is possible. What it is you’re even chasing. Because it’s there, I promise you. It is there. It’s within your reach.

It’s going to take work. You know that already. You don’t just stumble into a content life. You build it from the ground up. Are you willing to try? Are you willing to get your hands dirty? If the answer is yes, then possibility will show up to greet you.

If the answer is yes, you can begin.

If the answer is yes, you will find your meaning.

If the answer is yes, you will find your life.

And you will not want to escape from it.

It is possible.

You just have to decide that it is.

Believe in possibility, and possibility will believe in you.