Character Arc

Are we the same person we were five years ago? Ten years ago? Twenty years ago? Yes and no.

We are the same person, but we've changed in many ways—now with stronger convictions, wider perspective, greater awareness, new opinions, and refined preferences.

And that's the way it should be. We should grow continuously.

So it's okay to change our opinions. It's okay to start a new hobby. It's okay to shift our careers entirely. It's okay to lose relationships that no longer align with the values we now live by.

The past is there to learn from, to grow from. We shouldn't be imprisoned by it, thinking who we were will always be who we are. That our mistakes will always be part of our identity. That our shortcomings will remain to be shortcomings.

We are the protagonists of our own story, and we are in our own hero's journey, completing our life's character arc.