Don’t Judge Yourself Too Early

We judge ourselves too soon.
Sometimes after one bad day, one heartbreak, one mistake,
we quietly decide who we are
and who we’ll never be.

But you can’t judge a book by its first chapter.
You can’t even judge it by the first page.
A story needs time to find its rhythm,
and so do we.

Most people quit at chapter one.
They get scared, or tired, or convinced that this must be all there is.
They never make it to chapter seven —
the one where it finally starts to get good.

And the funny thing is,
chapter twelve?
It’s amazing.
But you’ll never know that if you stop reading your own story too soon.

A friend once told me,

“It doesn’t get fun until we’ve grown.”

And I think that’s true.
Growth isn’t easy, it’s awkward, uncomfortable, sometimes painful, 
but it’s also where the beauty begins.
We’ve all got a lot more growing to do.
I’ve got a lot more growing to do.

So don’t judge yourself too early.
Don’t close the book in chapter one.
Your story’s still unfolding,
and the best parts haven’t even been written yet.