From Then to Now: A Return to Becoming

The last time I wrote here was 2017.

That feels like a lifetime ago.

Back then, I was navigating life from a very different place—one rooted more in survival than softness, more in doing than becoming. I was showing up the best way I knew how at the time, even when I didn’t yet have the language for what I was feeling or the courage to fully honor my inner voice.

Since then, life has happened.

Not in neat chapters.

Not in ways I could have planned or predicted.

Just… life.

There were seasons that stretched me, seasons that humbled me, and seasons that required me to sit still when all I wanted to do was push forward. I learned what it meant to lose parts of myself—and what it takes to gently, intentionally call them back home.

In the years between then and now, I’ve learned that growth isn’t always loud. Healing doesn’t always announce itself. And faith doesn’t mean certainty—it means trust, even when clarity hasn’t arrived yet.

I’ve unlearned a lot.

I’ve unlearned the need to explain myself.

I’ve unlearned the belief that rest is something you earn.

I’ve unlearned the habit of dimming my light to keep others comfortable.

And I’m still unlearning.

What I know now is this: becoming is not a destination. It’s a daily decision.

A decision to choose alignment over approval.

To choose softness without guilt.

To choose authenticity, even when it costs you familiarity.

Faith has looked different in this season, too. Less about perfection. More about surrender. Less about having all the answers. More about trusting that God meets me exactly where I am—unfinished, evolving, human.

I didn’t stop writing because I had nothing to say.

I stopped because I was listening.

Listening to what my soul needed.

Listening to what no longer fit.

Listening to who I was becoming beneath the noise.

Now, I’m returning to this space not as the woman I was in 2017—but as the woman shaped by everything that followed. Wiser. Softer. More grounded. Still becoming.

This blog is no longer about performance or polish.

It’s about presence.

It’s about truth.

It’s about faith, authenticity, and becoming—over and over again.

If you’re reading this and you’re in a season of transition, reflection, or quiet rebuilding, know this: you don’t have to have it all figured out to begin again.

Neither did I.

I’m here now.

And this is just the beginning—again.

With grace,

Hadiyah Adrianne