Hi Reader,

A friend replied to last week's email. She told me that the picture I wrote about, the one that was supposed to be a hopeful "before" and just made me sad instead, hit her to the bones. She told me it made her feel less alone, and reading her words did the exact same thing for me. Maybe that's what this whole season is. We're all figuring it out at the same time, helping each other along the way without meaning to.

Then this week I wrote about my first college drop-off experiences and how I was the one who held onto the hugs as long as I could while they were already halfway into their new lives. I posted about it on Instagram and I heard from a handful of moms, some of them in the middle of drop-off week themselves, saying some version of the same thing. I see you too.

Two different weeks, two different posts, and the same lesson showing up twice. The personal stuff, the specific stuff, the stuff I sometimes worry is too small to matter to anyone but me, is the stuff that actually hits.

Here's the other thing I noticed this week. I started a fitness routine again after a long time away from one, and I've been consistent with it for a couple weeks now. I haven't seen any real change yet, but I already feel a little better, and that's reason enough to keep going.

I think consistency pays you before the results do. Showing up for a routine you can't yet see working does something to how you feel and how you think, long before it shows up anywhere you can measure it. It's working even when you can't see it yet. You can feel it, and that feeling is what keeps you going until the results catch up.

I've noticed the same thing with this blog. I don't always see it in the numbers I'd like to see, but I'm rewarded anyway, just not in ways you can put in a book or on a spreadsheet. My reward is in a reply from a friend who says she sees me. So I stay more myself, a little more creative, and remember why I started. That's what showing up actually gives me, even on the days the numbers don't.

If you're in the middle of something right now where the results haven't caught up to the effort yet, I don't have a magic answer for you. I just wanted to say I'm right there with you, and I think the showing up counts for more than it feels like most days.

If you're navigating a goodbye of your own this season, I wrote the whole story here: Dear New College Mom: It Gets Better Than That First Goodbye​

Keep going, friends, and have a great weekend.

Follow along with me... ​​​

​

​nextchapterlivingwithlynn.com​