There are certain things you hear so often as a child that they become little more than background noise.
My grandmother had one of those sayings.
I heard her say it countless times:
"You're standing in front of it... and the only way is through."
As a child, I never really understood what she meant. In my mind, there was always another solution. A detour. A back door. Someone who would fix it for you. Or maybe, if you waited long enough, it would simply go away on its own.
It wasn't until much later that I realized how much wisdom was hidden in those simple words.
The older you get, the more you discover that some things simply can't be postponed.
You can put off that difficult conversation for days, weeks, or even months.
You can keep hesitating over an important decision.
You can try to bury your grief.
You can pretend a problem doesn't exist.
But sooner or later, it comes knocking on your door again.
Not because life wants to punish you, but because some parts of life can only be reached by walking through the storm.
So sometimes, you stand still.
Because you're afraid.
Because you don't know what will happen.
Because you hope an easier path will somehow appear.
But often, it never does.
And perhaps that's the greatest lesson my grandmother ever taught me, without even realizing it.
It's not that you should never be afraid. It's that fear should never be the reason you stop moving forward.
Courage isn't the absence of fear.
Courage is taking that first step, even while you're afraid.
Maybe it's a small step.
Maybe it's a hesitant one.
Maybe it's taken with tears in your eyes.
But you take it anyway.
And strangely enough, that first step is often the hardest. Not because everything suddenly becomes easy afterward, but because from that moment on, you're moving again.
And movement creates change.
Maybe not immediately.
Maybe not in the way you had hoped.
But always a little closer to the other side.
So if you're facing something today...
A decision you've been avoiding.
A goodbye.
A dream that scares you.
A conversation you've been carrying on your shoulders for far too long.
Then remember the words my grandmother always used to say.
"You're standing in front of it... and the only way is through."
And perhaps, along the way, you'll discover that you're far stronger than you believe today.
Sometimes there is no detour. No shortcut. No perfect timing. Sometimes life asks only one thing of you:
"You're standing in front of it... and the only way is through."
With love,
De Verhalenheks ✨