This is Becoming

A journey back to myself, piece by piece.

When I look back, I can almost trace it to a single thread—woven through small, defining moments. Maybe it began when I was five, an independent little girl reaching for her own cereal, when my night gown caught fire. A moment that would change so much, carving resilience into my bones before I even had words for it.

Life didn’t slow down after that. It sped up. Changing schools, moving state to state, then to a different country! Norway brought opportunities, challenges and learning a new culture and language. It brought a different rhythm. The teenage years already felt tender, but this was fast and full—too much to think, too much to feel. Survival became my compass.

It wasn’t until I was 24 that something inside me said: Stop. Check in. Who am I? Not the version shaped by expectations, by everyone else’s narrative. I wanted to explore, to know the real me - this time being in the driver’s seat myself: doing it on my own. 

So, I set a date. I booked a ticket. I flew back to the United States alone, ready to start fresh. Here I would start the journey, my quest. Finding pieces to who I was meant to be. 

It wasn’t a single, lightning moment of transformation. It was quieter than that.

Piece by piece, I began collecting parts of myself I’d forgotten. Through curiosity. Through connection. 

Eventually learning how to carve out space to listen inward. This is a path I’m still on—the unfolding of becoming.

Not rushing to a destination, but leaning into the journey. And in that leaning, I keep finding her: the truest version of me.