Hello Stranger

by Katherine Center

Plus, don’t we all, deep down, carry an inextinguishable longing for our parents to be proud of us? Even long after we’ve given up?

“Our thoughts create our emotions. So if you fixate on your worst-case scenario, you’ll make things harder for yourself.” “You want me not to fixate on the worst-case scenario?” “I want you to start practicing the art of self-encouragement.”

“Basically we tend to decide on what the world is and who people are and how things are—and then we look for evidence that supports what we’ve already decided. And we ignore everything that doesn’t fit.”

Knowing how much I used to be missing has taught me to pay better attention. To pause from the hustle more often and just take it all in.

But I find the antidote to that is just keeping a sense of humor. And staying humble. And laughing a lot. And doubling down on smiling. We’re all just muddling through, after all. We’re all just doing the best we can. We’re all struggling with our struggles. Nobody has the answers. And everybody, deep down, is a little bit lost.

Sometimes we really are the best versions of ourselves. I see that about us. And I’m determined to keep seeing that about us. Because that really might be the truest thing I’ll ever know: The more good things you look for, the more you find.