17/08/2026
Four months ago, I packed up my comfortable life in small(ish)-city America and moved it back to big-city Britain. New job, new home, new everything in a city I am deeply familiar with. It's the kind of "starting again" that sounds exciting in a sentence and feels like a lot more when you're actually living it.
There's a particular exhaustion to holding that much change at once. It's the admin, the unfamiliarity, the small griefs for what you left behind sitting right next to the excitement for what's ahead. Along the way, there are moments when you wonder how much more you can carry and definitely question all of your choices.
And then suddenly you look back and realise you didn't break in the storm. You held up and made it through; just like bamboo that doesn't break under weight. Bamboo bends, and that bend is exactly what lets it keep standing. I think we underestimate our own flexibility and resilience the same way. At the beginning, a season of upheaval looks like it should snap you; but in the end, you find you're still standing, maybe just reshaped a little by the wind.
If you're mid-upheaval right now - moving, starting over, holding more than feels possible - remember that you're more flexible and more resilient than you think.
