Why is it the things we want most never seem to come quickly enough?
The love, the status, the money, the freedom, the clarity— all of it, ever on the other side of some invisible obstacle we have yet to overcome.
“It shouldn’t be taking this long,” we tell ourselves, our noses pressed so firmly to the glass of our present circumstances, we can’t even remember the last time we caught sight of the bigger picture.
These moments are a sign we need to zoom out. That we’re too close. That we’ve lost our perspective.
Because the truth is, growth of any kind can only be observed looking backwards through a wide-angle lens. Think of your own life— how far you’ve traveled in what probably feels more to you like seconds than forevers. Lasting transformation is never swift. And a life’s progress is measured not in the rapid swinging of a pendulum, but rather, as T.S. Eliot wrote, “in coffee spoons.” It’s the small acts that move the needle.
The tiny steps that build momentum.
The days that, ultimately, make up a life.
And in perhaps the biggest irony of all, it’s actually the showing up right where you are that most often ends up getting you where you want to go.