05/21/2026
Growing Pains & Shedding Old Skin~
Lately, I’ve been thinking about growing pains, not just the physical kind we remember from childhood, but the emotional and internal kind that come with becoming.
During a recent trip to Costa Rica, I was reminded that snakes shed their skin as a part of their process for growth. What struck me was learning that the process can actually be painful.
Human growth feels similar sometimes.
Growth often asks us to release old beliefs, loosen our grip on familiar identities, outgrow coping patterns that once protected us, and/or make space for something new.
That process can feel uncomfortable, even painful, before it feels freeing.
I keep returning to this question:
What am I still gripping too tightly?
Sometimes we hold onto certainty, perfectionism, expectations, resentment, or outdated versions of ourselves simply because they feel familiar.
Letting go is not the same as giving up. It is creating room.
Maybe growth is less about becoming someone entirely new and more about clearing away what obscures who we already are, shedding the dead skin to reveal the glow beneath.
What might become possible if you loosened your grip just enough to let something new grow?
https://mailchi.mp/ccb4f41c8e89/growing-pains-three-thoughts-for-thursday-may-2026
