with.in

“We have to keep reinventing ourselves almost every minute

because the world can change in an instant, and there’s no time for looking back.

Sometimes the changes are forced on us, sometimes they happen by accident,

and we make the most of them. We have to constantly come up with new ways to fix ourselves.

So we change, we adapt, we create new versions of ourselves.

We just need to be sure that this one is an improvement over the last”

By: Tiffany Burke

Who…am…I? Ask it out loud. Try to define your response. Look deeper than the surface questions. Who are you really? What breaths air into your being? Can you define it? Can you describe how you became that person? We all start out helpless, needing constant care from others. Learning from repetition, learning from mistakes, learning from pain, learning from our basic human needs. We all learn. Everyday we discover, we grow. Knowledge comes from experience. Some from things out of our control, some from things we study hard to master. Some days we feel we have a firm grasp on who we are, what we know to be true, and what makes us feel alive and steady. Other days we are knocked off of feet, our world is stripped of all familiarity. We become new again, not always by a choice. Left to redefine. Not sure if we can stand. Searching for answers and truth.  Searching for anything that seems familiar.

Until we realize, that maybe familiar isn’t what helps us grow. Maybe familiar is too comfortable. Maybe familiar, even thought it’s a simple solution, isn’t the answer we need. I’ve always been the type of person to know when I’ve outgrown my box. I’ve always known when I’ve needed a change, needing to learn more about life. But for me I tend to learn the hard way. It seems I look at things backward, deconstruct them and rebuild. I’m a creative, analytical person, always questioning. When I stop questioning, I wonder if I’ve become too comfortable. I crave knowledge. I break things down and learn how to put them back together so I can build something different, something beautiful. I am finally exploring the question….Who am I? I find myself getting lost in my mind, discovering what defines me. I’m seeing parts of me becoming solid and concrete, I see a work in progress and I am seeing something beautiful.

However, one of my biggest lessons recently has been learning how to also be still. Allowing myself to let those things I cannot control and analyze just fall into place. I now know it’s good to take a break too. I’m learning that it’s ok to just be. Letting life create its own happy accidents….serendipity. To stop the wheels from turning so I can just let life’s experiences teach me on their own. Realizing I can’t always figure everything out and somethings just simply happen. No thought necessary…just life…simple life.

It’s a delicate balance but I’m learning how to walk that line of searching and being still.

And in learning to walk that line, I’m finally knowing where it is I stand.

I’m feeling comfortable in my own skin and in my own mind. Seeing the beauty in my life. This one life I have to live. Embracing the need for knowledge and growth and accepting the silent and quiet moments. The moments where if you look closely and listen in that silence you may just see your life becoming, all on it’s very own. 

Photos: By Tiffany

Source: iPhone

Edited using: Instagram and photoshop