Respect the Process!

"Hey!" I interjected, pointing my finger lazily.

I was curled up on the couch with my head on one friend's shoulder, interrupting her sister, who sat across from us on another couch, sprawled out beside our fourth friend & hostess.

"You have to respect the process," I finished.

She laughed. Not because this was particularly funny, but because I was paraphrasing advice that the oldest & wisest of our group had said to me not an hour earlier.

I have to respect the process.

Just because I know what I want in a given situation doesn't mean I'm automatically there. This is reality. Processes and time and waiting and walking through. There aren't always shortcuts.

I may not want to feel sad. Or stressed. Or afraid of the future. Just because I've been anticipating change and wanting change doesn't mean that I don't have to experience the difficult parts of change. I have to respect the process.

And I have to believe that "the process" will not last forever. Or take me into difficult places without escape. Respecting the process means believing that the process ends in good.

Like this song says:

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* not with ink

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