Where Your Shadow Used to Stand

Sometimes the climb is so steady, you forget you’ve risen at all.

Rex Anderson
May 05, 2025

I remember the early days, when everything felt like a beginning and an ending at once. You stood at the edge of something vast, unsure if it was a cliff or a horizon. You didn’t know yet that you were already moving. That every small step, every quiet decision, every moment you chose to stay instead of run, was part of the becoming.

There were days you thought you were standing still. Days when the weight of it all made you feel like you hadn’t changed at all. But I see it now, from here. The way your voice softened and deepened. The way your eyes began to hold more sky. The way your presence stretched beyond the edges of your fear. You were growing roots even when you felt lost.

It’s easy to forget how far you’ve come when you’re still carrying the ache of where you started. But look around. The air is different here. The questions you ask now are shaped by wisdom, not just survival. The way you hold others, the way you hold yourself, has changed. You don’t flinch at your own reflection anymore. You’ve made peace with parts of yourself you once tried to outrun.

I want you to pause here. Not to measure your worth by milestones, but to feel the quiet miracle of your own endurance. You have walked through seasons that tried to unmake you, and still, you are here. Not just breathing, but becoming. Not just surviving, but shaping something sacred with your life.

There is no finish line to this. Only moments like this one, where you can turn around and see your own footprints in the dust. Where you can whisper thank you to the version of you who kept going, even when the path disappeared beneath your feet.

Reflection Prompt

What parts of your journey would surprise your younger self the most if they could see you now?

Your Compass Line: Even my quiet steps leave a trail.

/s/ No new wisdom here. Just old knowing, spoken back.

Rex's p.s.

I still feel like I'm just starting out, yet stand here with decades behind me. We forget, don’t we, how much we’ve weathered just to be here. Sometimes the bravest thing is to look back and say, I made it this far. Not with pride, but with reverence. Like tracing the rings of a tree and realizing every scar was part of the growth.

-- Rex

Letters From A Future You | LettersFromAFutureYou.com

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