And then there’s the phenomenon of having a “new start”. Someone might change jobs, join a new church, go to a different school, or move to a new city with the intention of making changes and being the person they always wanted to be. From the moment they make the physical change, they expect to be a different person. Clean slate, fresh start, new start, whatever you want to call it, change just doesn’t work like that.
You can’t just snap your fingers and become a different person, and you can’t outrun yourself. It takes time, commitment, and incremental, inward improvements to make long-lasting changes. If you don’t grow inwardly, the facade eventually crumbles, and you see that “No Matter Where You Go, There You Are.” You can’t outrun who you are, and you can’t become a new person over night.
What you can do is accept yourself and make small, lasting changes that align with your values and the life you want. If you don’t like something about yourself, you can change, but the outward change needs to be accompanied by inward change. We are all a work in progress, and that’s simultaneously frustrating and comforting to me. I would love to be able to snap my fingers and magically be the person I hope to one day become, but I realize that being a work in progress is just being human.
This year, I have goals, but rather than list out a long list of resolutions, I’ve decided to focus on my word of the year: stewardship.
The inspiration for this post came from this blog post, No Matter Where You Get To, There You Are, which uses a funny story and some cute drawings to illustrate the quote.
Another interesting post is about the history of this quote (and variations) on Quote Investigator.