🌆The View I Almost Missed
🌇 From the Hood to the View
I come from humble beginnings, not “missed meals” humble, but hood humble. Raised by a single mom who worked her butt off and sacrificed everything so I could have whatever I wanted and needed. My uncle lived in a beautiful high-rise apartment in Oakland, and every holiday, every visit, I’d find any excuse to sit out on the balcony and stare out at the skyline. I would get lost in that view, quietly dreaming of the day I’d have something like that for myself.
And now, nearly six years into my own home, I’m recognizing that what I once only dreamed of has quietly been my reality.
My mid-rise still isn’t the high-rise penthouse I imagine for my future; but I have a beautiful view, glowing sunsets, and a space that fills with golden light every evening. Sometimes I sit and just stare, thinking, wow… I actually made this happen.
🌅 Between Gratitude and Ambition
It would be easy to focus on what I don’t have yet, to feel like I’m still lacking or behind because this isn’t the penthouse. But since I’ve stopped negotiating with the universe about whether my dreams will come true, I’ve started romanticizing the life I have right now. Because I trust that the penthouse is coming, I can relax into my mid-rise. I can feel proud of how far I’ve come instead of rushing past it.
🧠The Planner vs. The Lifer
I’ve always been a planner. And honestly, planning saved my life.
I planned my way out of South 35th Street in Richmond, CA.
I planned every class and graduated with a 3.7 in grad school.
I planned my career so well that my very first job was as a research assistant at MD Anderson — the number one cancer hospital in the world.
Planning built my foundation. It got me here.
But now I’m realizing something deeper:
planning got me this far… but living will take me to the next level.
I’ve tried to plan relationships, friendships, timelines, and milestones, trying to engineer a picture-perfect life. But I’m learning that presence, not planning, is what separates those who simply prepare for life from those who actually live it.
🌿 Romanticizing the Real
Now, I’m learning to sit with what’s in front of me. To take it in. To be grateful for it.
Presence looks like appreciating the job I have; even if it’s not the glamorous role I ultimately want, because there was a time when this was exactly what I prayed for.
Presence looks like loving my mid-rise apartment instead of comparing it to a penthouse, because the little girl in her lavender bedroom covered in posters dreamed of this exact view.
Romanticizing my real life doesn’t mean pretending everything is perfect. It means I’m recognizing that something here in front of me is already beautiful.
🌊 Becoming While Arriving
Every day, I’m learning to feel life instead of just plan it.
Each step I take, I know I’m closer to my next dream. And while I’m still becoming, I’m choosing to trust myself, and trust that the universe is moving with me, not against me.
I don’t need a perfect plan anymore.
I just need to keep showing up, stay present, and let life show me how good it can get.
đź’Ś A Gentle Reminder for Your Weekend
This weekend, let yourself arrive where you already are. You don’t have to perfect your life to enjoy it, you just have to notice it. Release the urge to script every outcome, and practice soft trust instead. Romanticize the ordinary: your morning coffee, your quiet home, your breath, your view. You are not “behind” because you’re not where you want to be yet. You are right on time, becoming, building, and blooming at your own pace. Choose presence over pressure, even if only for today.
🌷 Thank You for Reading
Thank you for sitting with me in this in-between space, where we’re grateful for how far we’ve come, but still honest about how far we want to go. I hope these words remind you that your life doesn’t have to be “finished” to be beautiful, and that your current chapter is not a waiting room for the next one. I hope you give yourself permission to arrive, even while you’re still becoming. You deserve to feel proud of what you’ve built, to soften into what’s already here, and to trust that everything you desire is still unfolding, right on time.
You are not behind. You are in process, and that is enough.
✨ Affirmation Set:
I give myself permission to enjoy my life even if it isn’t my dream life.
I trust my timing, even when my path looks different from others.
I release the pressure to “prove” my progress my growth is real even when it is quiet.
I am safe to relax, receive, and trust that more is still unfolding for me.
đź“ť Soft Return Reflection Prompts:
In what areas of my life do I treat “arrival” as something only in the future and how might I be missing my own arrival in small, quiet ways right now?
What does my inner planner believe will happen if I stop controlling outcomes?
If my younger self could see my life exactly as it is today, what would she be most proud of? Why have I minimized that pride?
If I trusted that my next dream is already moving toward me, how would I move differently in my everyday life?
Until Next Timeđź’«
