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alishawaterman.com

Writing to you from somewhere that holds a lot of my story

Published 1 day ago • 1 min read

Hi Reader,

I am writing this from London.

There is something about being back in a city that knew you before you became who you are. It quiets the noise. It reminds you of the distance you have travelled, not just geographically, and it makes you see your life from a perspective that is very hard to find when you are in the middle of living it.

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We landed a week ago and I have been thinking about growth ever since.

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Not the kind you post about. The kind that is harder to name. The kind where you come back to people who love you and realise they are holding a version of you that no longer quite fits. And you have to decide how to hold that with grace. To love them through the catch-up. To not shrink back into who you were just because it is easier.

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I think this is one of the least talked about parts of personal growth. The grief of it. The way it asks something of every relationship around you, not just the relationship you have with yourself.

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If you are in a season of change right now and it feels more complicated than it looks from the outside, I want you to know that is completely normal. You are not doing it wrong. You are just doing the part nobody photographs.

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Something I have been sitting with this week: the people who cannot quite meet the new version of you are not always failing you. Sometimes they just need more time. And sometimes, quietly, you outpace them. Both things can be true. Both things can be held with love.

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I will be here in London for another week before flying home to Sydney. I am already making a list of everything I want to bring back with me. Not in my suitcase. In my thinking.

More soon.

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alishawaterman.com

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