What if growth isn’t about getting more, but about wanting less?

Last week, over morning coffee, life handed me three chances that would have once felt impossible to pass up.

A younger man told me he loved me.

A company offered me a job I would have dreamed of twenty years ago.

Friends invited me to travel the world.

There was a time when I would have said yes to all three without hesitation. I would have mistaken motion for meaning and busy for fulfilled.

But now I see things differently.

The job was impressive, but it no longer fits the life I have built. The trip sounded fun, but peace does not require a passport. And the man, well, his enthusiasm was charming, but I have learned that admiration and alignment are not the same thing. It’s strange when what once thrilled you now feels like noise. That shift doesn’t come overnight. It comes after years of running toward things that never quite filled you. It made me wonder when did unbelievable become unnecessary. Maybe growth is not about adding more to your life but about having the wisdom to choose less. To say no with clarity instead of yes with confusion. To realize that the life you have is not a consolation prize but the reward for every lesson that came before it. We spend so much of our lives chasing what we think will complete us, only to realize the real arrival is when we stop chasing.

Last week, I said no to what used to be everything. In that quiet no, I found something I didn’t expect ; peace that feels like purpose.

Photo:

Puerto Penasco, today.

Selfie of Lulu, Lauren and me.