Someone said this to me a few days ago, just in passing, but it landed like truth:
“You’ll not regret your growth.”
It was soft, but it stayed.
Not loud. Not dramatic. Just… whole.
And since then, I haven’t stopped turning it over in my mind,
like a stone I found on a path, smooth on one side, jagged on the other,
but still worth holding.
Maybe it came at the right time or maybe I was finally quiet enough to hear it…..
I’ve been reflecting a lot lately. On how growth doesn’t always look like progress.
Sometimes, it looks like exhaustion.
Sometimes, it looks like stillness.
Sometimes, it looks like letting go of something you thought you’d always carry.
And that doesn’t feel like winning.
But maybe it is.
Maybe growth is being brave enough to stay when everything in you wants to run.
Maybe it’s holding your own hand when no one else offers theirs.
Maybe it’s forgiving yourself in the middle of the mess before the ending is even clear.
I think of myself like a plant. Not just growing, but becoming.
Rooted, but vulnerable.
Needed, yet exposed.
Sometimes plucked. Sometimes praised.
But always growing, always responding to light, even when the rain is heavy.
And the truth is: I won’t regret it.
Not the cracking open.
Not the slow bloom.
Not even the days I felt invisible.
Because this version of me, the one learning, unlearning, returning to herself
She’s sacred. She’s honest. She’s trying.
And trying is holy work.
So maybe what I’m really saying is this:
Let go of the need to fix every flaw before you move.
Stop shrinking to fit an image that was never yours to carry.
Speak softly to yourself. You’re not behind. You’re becoming.
You are not broken, you are blooming.
Don’t let anyone, not even your own voice, make you forget:
You’ll not regret your growth.
Not when you look back.
Not when you step forward.
Not even now.
-Nnenna
Nene's Corner 