The Seams

Every so often life transitions from one distinct period to the next. A student graduates college and enters the workforce. A couple has a child and starts a family. A working professional drops everything to travel. These transitions — or seams — in life are unsettling times. Sometimes, as in the case of tragedy, this change happens to us and we must respond. Other times, we deliberately create this tumultuousness ourselves. In both cases, life at the seams is chaotic and demanding.

Leaving home to travel was an enormous decision. Even the minor decisions to enable my trip became disproportionately significant and unnecessarily difficult. As my plane took off the day I left, I couldn’t help but weep quietly, alone and questioning everything I was about to do.

While challenging, the seams offer us the opportunity to grow. As everything changes, the seams allow us to reflect on our past and look to the future. With enough introspection, we are able to take stock of what we have and feel things we’ve never consciously confronted.

Inevitably, we all get comfortable. Yet, when we deliberately create a seam in our life, we strip away all that is familiar and assumed. We are left open, exposed to ourselves, and capable of learning so much.