a blessing for when you’re different now

Blessed are you, dear one, when the world around you has changed.

Everything is different now,
your body, your age, your relationships, your job, your faith.

The things that once brought you joy.
The way you existed in the world.
The people you love and trust and rely on.

Things have changed and it would be silly to imagine you haven’t changed with them.
You are not who you once were.

Bless that old self,
they did such a good job with what they knew.
They made you who you were,
all the mistakes and heartbreak and naiveté and courage.

And blessed are who you are now,
you who aren’t pretending things are the same,
who continue to grow and stretch and show up to your life as it really is:
wholehearted, vulnerable, maybe a little afraid.
So blessed are we, the changed.

This blessing was inspired by my conversation with Ibram X. Kendi on the Everything Happens Podcast. Listen to it here.