Wednesday Words #3

There’s a quiet ache that comes with growth. Not the kind you post about. The kind you feel in conversations that no longer land. In rooms where you used to feel seen… that now feel slightly… misaligned. You haven’t outgrown people — you have outgrown patterns. And those patterns once lived inside the dynamics you’re now too self-aware to keep playing. You find yourself between tables. The old one feels familiar, and increasingly distant. It’s harder to meet in the middle when you’ve stopped speaking the same emotional language. And the new rooms? They’re not quite yours yet. You admire the people. You share values. And you haven’t yet built history. You’re not fluent in their rhythm. This is the in-between. The identity you once wore doesn’t fit, and the new one hasn’t fully taken shape. It’s like wearing shoes that technically fit, and haven’t yet softened to your stride. And it feels awkward — because it is. The stretch between belonging and becoming. This is where self-leadership is built. Not in the comfort of certainty, but in your capacity to keep showing up despite the lack of it. So keep putting yourself in the new room. Let it be clunky. Let it be quiet. Let it be what it is. Because comfort will always invite you to shrink. And alignment, true alignment, requires repetition. It asks you to stay long enough to become familiar to the life you say you want. And if it feels disorienting right now? Good. That means you're done pretending. So pull up a seat, and claim your place.

Caity Walker | The Edge of Knowing