FORWARD
Three paths stand before me.
One to the right.
One to the left.
One…
straight ahead.
For the first time,
I choose forward.
I’ve never seen this choice quite like this before.
I feel confusion.
I feel excitement.
I feel doubt.
I feel love.
I feel encouragement.
Somewhere ahead,
I can almost see
the woman I’m becoming.
Fear still walks beside me.
So does discomfort.
The mind is loud.
“Don’t go.”
“Stay where it’s safe.”
Yet somehow,
my body puts on the workout clothes,
gets in the car,
and arrives.
Maybe courage
isn’t quieting the mind.
Maybe courage
is walking anyway.
I’ve spent so much of life
stuck in yesterday,
until one day
I wanted more.
Now my eyes are changing.
I notice the trees.
The wind.
The squirrel splooting in the grass,
completely at peace.
The little things
have become the big things.
The world is still noisy.
But I’m learning
to turn the volume down…
so I can hear
what has always been
right in front of me.
Tlw
2026