Becoming Who We Are

I don’t think we ever finish becoming who we are.

We can reach a certain age and discover something about ourselves that we never understood before.

We can find courage where we once felt fear.

Or discover that a fear we thought we’d overcome is still there.

We can become more compassionate and still act selfishly. More honest and still avoid an uncomfortable truth.

Growing older doesn’t automatically make us wiser. And understanding something doesn’t guarantee that we’ll live by it.

But we can keep learning.

We can acknowledge what we’ve done, what we wish we’d done, and what we still don’t understand.

We can recognize the people who’ve influenced us and the ways our own choices may have affected others.

We can try to make amends when we’ve caused harm.

And we can allow ourselves to grow without demanding that we become perfect.

There may never be a moment when we can say we’ve finally become the person we hoped to be.

Maybe that isn’t the point.

Maybe integrity is something we continue to discover through the choices we make, the consequences we live with, and the understanding we gain along the way.

There is no admission test for this conversation.

We’re all already part of it.