Have you ever had the opportunity to stand in the exact same spot as you had previously, with a completely new perspective?

This could be as simple as standing in the entrance to your gym - entered an hour ago with tired eyes and reluctant steps, now leaving with broad shoulders and exuding confidence.
This could be your view as you drive into the city center - once a young university student with spectacular drunken dance moves, now a mother and a mini-van …with spectacular drunken dance moves.
This could be final savasana on your yoga mat - scanning your body to illuminate muscles eased, breath replenished, and a clear mind.

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For me, the feeling is a bizarre mix of appreciation with a gentle smile, and somber notes of intrigue.

Change is all there is.
Because of this, no two moments can ever be the same. I will never be the same. Yet, I am Marin; and to my knowledge, I will always be her - with all of my past experiences and insights and tendencies and dreams.

When I stand on a rocky ledge overlooking the Mississippi River, it is the exact same view as half a decade ago. Though the water must be new, as I watch it flow south; the fellow bystanders look young, wherein once they were peers; I am currently mid-run, just as I was last time I stood on this ground, yet the purpose and thoughts and home to which I will return are all very different.

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What’s beautiful about these moments is the impossibility that I will ever fully understand them. Like the expansion of the universe, at some point my mind chooses to shrug her shoulders and let it remain as is - a mystery, and a great reminder that some questions may not find answer.

The extraordinary of life lies in its unpredictability; unfathomable magnitude & simultaneous insignificance. I can therefore deeply care about the life I live - choosing to live it fully, with abundance and authenticity - while giving myself permission to eat takeout on a friend’s floor with necessary ease & trust in life as good.

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So if you ever have the opportunity to stand in the exact same spot as you had previously, with a completely new perspective:
Appreciate your moment of connection & change.
And take it seriously,
but not at all.