Change Is the Path

I was talking with my daughter about her future plans. She had a few different paths laid out and was thinking through all of them. There was excitement, but also that quiet pressure to pick the perfect one and stick with it forever. I stopped her and explained that whichever path she chose, if it turned out it was not right for her, she could change. We are never stuck. In fact, we should expect change and honor it. Get comfortable with it even, because change is the only thing that is constant.

That conversation reminded me of something from my childhood. My little sister and I were once running down a hill when she came to a huge boulder sitting directly in her path. She stopped and yelled at it. She told it to move. She wanted it gone so she could keep running in a straight line. But the rock did not move. After a moment she realized it never would. So she stepped to the side. She found a new path around it and kept going. The moment she understood she was not stuck, she was free.

And honestly, feeling stuck is often an alarm, a quiet signal that something needs to change.

Somewhere along the way many of us learn that changing our minds means we failed. We start believing we only get one chance to choose correctly. The major we pick at eighteen is supposed to define us. The job we choose in our twenties should somehow carry us to retirement. The relationship we begin should stay exactly the same even though people grow and life shifts. That kind of thinking can make us scared to move at all.

But life changes. We change. That is what is supposed to happen.

Change is all around us. Humans grow from infant to adult. Seasons change. Styles change. Friendships shift. Cities evolve. Technology leaps forward. Families expand and contract. Even our taste in music and food changes over time. The world is in constant motion, and we are part of it.

I know people who switched careers in the middle of their lives and finally felt like they could breathe again. The role that once fit no longer did, and instead of forcing themselves to stay, they tried something new. They grew. I am one of those people.

I know parents who realized the way they were parenting was not supporting the connection they wanted, so they softened. They learned. They listened. And their homes shifted in the best way. More open. More warm. I am one of those people.

I know people who left relationships and found themselves again. And I know couples who stayed but chose to love each other differently. Both paths made room for individual growth and shared growth. I am one of those people.

Changing your mind is not quitting. It is not giving up. It is simply acknowledging that you are someone who learns and evolves. You are allowed to outgrow old versions of yourself.

And it is not only careers and relationships. Some people change their religion. Some change their political views. Some discover new boundaries. Some shift their values. Some realize they no longer believe what they once did. Growth can reshape our entire inner world. I am one of those people, too!

Change can feel big. It can feel scary. It can feel like too much sometimes. But remembering that you can always step to the side, always choose a new direction, always find another way forward, brings so much relief.

In many ways, my daughter’s questions and my sister’s boulder taught the same lesson. We all face moments where the path ahead looks fixed and unchangeable, whether it is a decision about the future or a giant rock sitting stubbornly in our way. But the truth is that life rarely asks us to push through the obstacle. More often, it invites us to notice it, learn from it, and then step to the side.

My daughter is learning she can choose differently as she grows, just like my sister learned she was free the moment she realized she was not stuck behind that rock. And honestly, that is what all of us are learning too.

You are not stuck. Change is not the enemy. It is the path.

🧡✨💫

---