I heard a line once:
we used to be close, but people can go from people you know to people you don’t.
And it made me wonder —
how many of us have done that to ourselves?
There are moments where I don’t recognise the old me.
The one who lived in self-doubt.
Who blamed herself first.
Who carried everything inward.
I didn’t become perfect.
I reflect.
I take responsibility.
But now I look at myself from two places —
from inside the moment,
and from outside it.
Sometimes I realise:
I did what I could with what I knew back then.
And instead of staying there,
I ask a different question.
Not why am I like this?
But how can I grow from here?
There are times I speak more directly now.
Times I don’t soften the truth to protect how it might land.
Times I surprise myself.
Not because I became careless —
but because I stopped filtering myself through fear.
So yes,
there are versions of me I don’t recognise anymore.
And maybe that’s not loss.
Maybe that’s growth.